Final Fantasy: Chaos
by OtisSux
Summary: Final Fantasy I novelization. [Discontinued for rewrite]
1. Chapter One: Partners

Final Fantasy: Chaos

Chapter One: Partners

Just outside Coneria Forest. . . .

"This is ridiculous!" the man in the black robes yelled.

"Thol, the old man said that they left it in a cave back when they were young because they couldn't carry it all. The only reason they didn't go back for it was because they were caught and were too old by the time they got out," said the tall, sword wielding man with red hair that was walking alongside him.

"You can be such an idiot sometimes, Tor. I swear if you were an Eskimo, you'd be buying ice every chance you got," Thol said in disgust. "If you had just pulled a job at the castle, would you haul it into a cave and then go right back? I don't think so. I'm telling you. That old man was full of shit."

"I don't know. I've heard from a few other people in town that the castle was indeed broken into and a suit of ancient armor was stolen."

"Arg!" the robed man said finally, his shoulders drooping in frustration as he shook his head. "Fine! We'll go find this cave and get your damned armor then! Damn it! Remind me again why I travel with you?"

Somewhere off to the west, a chorus of howls sounded out.

"That's why," Tor said as the howls trailed off.

Thol cursed loudly.  "How far away do you think they are?" Thol asked, scratching his face under the mask that he wore.

"Hard to say. A couple of miles maybe. Let's hope that they don't have our scent."

They walked on in silence for ten more minutes, both straining to hear if they were being pursued by the wolves. Sure enough, a few moments later, they started howling again, this time sounding much closer.

"Damn it! They're after us!" Thol said.

Tor simply nodded and put his hand on the pommel of his sword.

Another three minutes passed when the woods suddenly erupted with motion.

"Heads up!" Tor yelled in warning as he drew his sword.

"Thank you Captain Obvious," Thol said sarcastically as he dropped his pack and readied his fighting staff.

A wolf jumped forward and Thol whacked it over the head with his staff before sending it fleeing with its tail between its legs from a low-level fire spell. _That's right. Run you coward_, he thought as it ran.

Tor in the mean time had killed three of the others and was fending off another two of them. He just killed one when the remaining one leaped at him with its jaws seeking his flesh. He managed to get his gauntlet up in time to prevent any damage and he bashed it in the skull with the hilt of his sword to get it to let go.

The wolf fell to the ground and was about to leap again when it was struck with a bolt of lightning. The shock stopped the things heart and it collapsed dead.

"Thanks! That was a wonderful little skirmish" Tor said cheerfully.

Thol simply shook his head and muttered "Disgusting." He picked up his pack and they continued looking for the cave. . . .

* * * *

They had been walking for about a half an hour when they came across the entrance to the cave.

"Well," Thol said looking at the entrance. "At least there's a cave. I'll give the old man that much."

"Come on! Let's go in," Tor said rushing in.

"Idiot! Didn't your mother ever tell you to look before you leap?" Thol yelled after him. Tor disappeared into the darkness. Thol cursed under his breath and followed his impulsive friend into the cave.

It took him a few seconds to get used to the darkness, but it didn't take long before he could see perfectly. He did, after all, have a slight advantage when it comes to seeing in the dark.

"Tor! Where the Hell are you?" he yelled out, his words echoing off the walls of the cave.

"I'm back here! Hurry up! I'll wait for you!" Tor's voice yelled back.

"Joy," Thol said to himself as he started toward the source of the voice.

He rounded the corner and saw Tor fumbling in his pack obviously looking for a torch. Shaking his head again, he said "What are you doing? You know perfectly well that I can lead us through here without you wasting a torch. It was your idea coming here so let's get going."

"All right, but I didn't see any other ways to go."

"Did you ever think to try the stairs over there, stupid?" Thol said motioning to the jagged hole in the wall. He knew perfectly well that the only thing Tor could probably see was a mass of darkness, but he liked to make him look stupider than he really was. It reminded Tor that he needed him for some things.

"Oh. I didn't see them."

"Of course you didn't, now let's go."

They started off over to the 'stairs' and headed down. They were more like slabs of rock that slowly worked their way down into the earth, but they were enough like stairs to make a comparison.

The next level was pretty much like the last only darker. Thol was sure he knew what was coming next.

"Geez man. I can't see a thing. Can't I light a torch now?" Tor asked.

"No. There's nothing obstruction our path, just follow the sound of my footsteps and you'll be fine." He didn't think he would tell him about the twenty-foot drop to the right of them as he would never be able to convince him that they wouldn't need a torch then.

"If you say so," Tor replied.

The path was fairly straight and Thol could see what looked like a door at the end of the passage.

"Is that light I see ahead?" Tor asked.

Thol looked again. It was hard for him to make it out because to him it was as bright as a well-lit room, but he saw the light coming from under the door none the less. "Why, I believe you do. Now why would there be light down here?"

"You think maybe someone beat us to it?"

"Doubt it. Just the same though, I think you might want to get your sword out," Thol said. He shifted his pack from his staff to his back and also readied his weapon.

He stopped in front of the door and waited for Tor to nod that he was ready. Over the years they had learned each others little signals, so they worked fairly well together. Tor kicked open the door and they rushed in.

The room was fully lit by a series of torches on the wall. That allowed them to see the pair of ogres that abided in the room.

"Oh shit," Thol said quietly. A pair of ogres would be quite a hand full. It was going to take more than just a simple fire spell to deal with these two.

"Don't worry Thol! I'll get one and you handle the other!" Tor said rushing at the closest one.

"Thanks loads," he commented sarcastically as he began chanting the words to a high-level spell. The other ogre had spotted him and began to move toward him with its club raised and ready to pound him into the ground. _This better work_, he thought as he reached the end of the spell.

He thrust his hands toward the ogre and an inferno of fire erupted from his palms to engulf the creature. To its credit, the beast managed to take a few more steps before the fire incinerated him completely.

Thol mentally congratulated himself for his handy work and glanced over to see how Tor was facing. He obviously was having a little difficulty but so far was holding his own. Nevertheless, Thol decided that he might as well lend him a hand with a less extravagant spell or two.

Thol quickly cast all four of his second level spells which included slow, darkness, temper and ice in that order. This left him without any more level two spells for the day, but the results had the ogre stumbling around more then Tor when he got drunk.

The temper spell helped greatly and Tor quickly finished off the second ogre.

"Wow!" he said after it was all over. "Sometimes I forget how impressive your magic can be."

"Wonderful. Now did you happen to notice during your little scuffle with the ogre that there is _nothing_ in this stupid cave?" Thol voiced angrily.

Tor looked around and said "No, I hadn't noticed that."

"I thought not," Thol replied.  He then sighed. "What would you do without me?"

"Hey," Tor said, realizing something. "I thought ogres didn't know how to make fire?"

"They don't," Thol said. "But I see what you are getting at. Congratulations, Tor. I think you finally had a thought in your life."

Tor said nothing as he was used to Thol's constantly making fun of him.

Thol in the mean time had approached one of the torches and had begun to examine them. Seeing nothing odd about them, he passed a hand above them. "I see," he said finally.

"What?" Tor asked.

"Well, these torches were lit by black magic. That is why they haven't gone out yet. Looks like someone put these ogres here for some reason."

"Do you think it was to protect the armor?"

"No. I'm afraid to say it, Tor, but there's no armor here. Let's go back to town now. I could use a good night's sleep."

Tor nodded and they exited the room. It was then that Tor noticed the drop off not more then ten feet away. His eyes bulged and he turned to Thol and said "You never told me!"

_Oh Hell_, Thol thought as Tor started rummaging though his pack. . . .

* * * *


	2. Chapter Two: The Abduction

Chapter Two: The Abduction

Coneria City. . . .

The two of them arrived in Coneria just before dusk and Thol was getting irritable due to exhaustion. His main source of irritation came from his traveling companion who had done some damage to his sword in a scuffle with a pack of imps just outside the city.

"I'm mean geez," Tor said. "I didn't swing my sword that hard."

"Tor, you were swinging at an imp as if it was a troll or something. It's not my fault it ducked and you hit a rock."

"Yes, but do you think there's enough time left to get it repaired today? I'd hate to have to sleep having unfinished work on my conscience."

"Tor," Thol began, then thinking better of it, changed his mind and said "Never mind. Look, just find us a place to rest for the night and then you can do whatever you want with your damned sword." He was much too tired to even think of one of his sarcastic remarks.

"Yeah, all right. I'll get right to it. What are you going to do?"

"Well in case you failed to notice, we are getting rather low on food and medical supplies. I'm going to go get some. Did I say that slow enough for you?" Okay, maybe he wasn't that tired after all.

"Yeah, I got it. I'll head to the clinic if something comes up," Tor said as if he hadn't just been insulted.

"Good, now get going before I have the urge to beat you senseless."

Tor nodded and headed off toward the inn. Thol could only shake his head for what seemed like the hundredth time that day. He headed off to his destination as soon as he was sure Tor didn't get lost on the way to the inn.

His visit to the general store was uneventful, much to his liking. He wasn't in the mood to deal with anything complicated at the moment.

As he passed through the town on his way to the clinic, he glanced over at the new building being erected. He wasn't sure what the building was for, but it was going to be big when it was done. He noticed one of the workers pick up a large beam on his own and stopped. _Yikes. That guy's ripped_, he thought. He was quite sure he had never seen someone as built as the one with the beam before, but he had other things to worry about other then some massive guy who could lift the house up on his own so he simply shook his head again and continued on his way.

Just like at the general store, his visit in the clinic went off without problems. His exit from the store however, would not be such.

He was busy putting his newly purchased supplies in his pack and wasn't looking where he was going when he ran into someone coming around the corner. He managed to stay on his feet, but he other person fell over with a rather feminine "Ooff!"

Regaining his balance, Thol got a good look at the girl he had just knocked over and felt his eyes bug out. She was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. _Way to make a first impression Thol_, he thought to himself with his usual sarcasm.

The girl in the mean time was trying to collect all the papers she had been carrying. Thol came to his senses and started helping her.

"Sorry about that. Wasn't watching where I was going," he said.

"Obviously not," she replied somewhat testily. She was irritated at the robed man who had bumped into her as she had spent all day sorting through those papers and organizing them. Now she would have to do it all over again.

Thol noticed the text on the papers and recognized them as white magic scriptures. "You're a white mage," he said stupidly.

"How observant of you," she said finishing collecting her papers. She grabbed the ones Thol had picked up for her and said "Now if you'll excuse me, I have a lot of work to do thanks to you." With that, she brushed passed him and entered the clinic.

"Sorry," he said again as she went by, but she didn't answer him. Thol shrugged and started toward the inn. _Well, that went smoothly_, he mentally berated himself. _Oh well. I did apologize after all and if she wants to be a bitch about it, let her. She was pretty though_, he added as an after thought. He laughed then. _And you're a masked monster Thol. Forget it. She wouldn't be interested in you anyway_.

He entered the inn and went up to the woman behind the counter. She was an elderly woman with gray hair and was busy reading a book of some sort. "Excuse me," he said walking up to the counter. "Did a young man with red hair come here rent out a room for the night?"

The old woman put down her book and thought for a moment. "Red hair? Can't say that I've seen anyone like that in here today. Sorry."

_Idiot!_ he mentally screamed. "In that case," he said as if he wasn't ready to go out and commit homicide. "I'd like to rent one. Two beds please."

"Of course. The one at the end of the hall on the right is empty."

"Thanks," he said turning to go find his soon-to-be-dead partner.

"Um," the old woman said.

Thol turned and looked at her. "What?"

"That'll be 30 gil please." she said, holding out her hand. . . .

* * * *

The pub was rather quiet at this time of the evening, so no one was ready for it when the doors burst open, loudly banging on the wall, and a man stalked in and yelled "Tor!" with enough volume to make the local patrons cringe back from the noise.

"Thol," replied Tor, who was sitting at a table with another man and apparently enjoying a cup of the pubs brew. "Glad you made it. I found out something you might want to hear."

Thol's colossal rage fled for the moment when he heard this. "Like what?" he said, seating himself at the table.

"This man here works at the castle," Tor said as if that was the greatest thing since King Arthur.

"And?" Thol asked, disgusted with the other mans enthusiasm.

"He tells me that Princess Sara has been kidnapped by a former knight from the castle."

"Really? Very good, Tor. I was going to blast you to pieces for forgetting to get us a room at the inn, but it looks like you're good for something other than whacking rocks with a sword after all. What is being done about it?"

The other man spoke up then. "Well, the former knight, Garland, laid waste to over half the castle guard when he took the princess, so the king is stuck having to hire someone to go rescue her."

"Does anyone know where this Garland character took her?" Thol asked, becoming more interested by the moment.

"Well, with the bridge to Provoka out, there's only one place he could have taken her. The Temple of Fiends."

_Or that damned cave, but I think if he took her there, we would have seen her_, Thol thought. "Okay. Simple enough. Go to the temple, rescue the princess and get a fat payload out of it. Deal. Tor, we're going to the castle tomorrow morning."

"Um, before or after I get my sword fixed? Cause I went to the blacksmiths and he was closed."

_Strength. Give me strength_, Thol thought, putting his head in his hands. . . .

* * * *

The two of them stayed in the pub for a little while longer to see if they could find out any other information about the princess' kidnapping. There wasn't much, but one crazy old man kept babbling something about a prophecy. Thol just ignored him. He kept on saying that the Light Warriors would come and save them all. _Light Warriors. Right. And Tor's gonna be king of the world one day_, Thol thought sarcastically. He wandered over to where Tor was to see if he had found out anything useful.

Tor was talking to a young man about the same age as them. "Yeah, that's right. We're going to the castle tomorrow to offer our help in retrieving the princess from the vile Garland."

Thol had to give him one thing. When Tor got going on heroic speeches, he ranked among the best for eloquence. "Tor, you shouldn't really go around announcing our intentions to everyone you meet," he said, sitting down with them.

"I know that Thol, but Keza says that he is interested in helping us."

"Keza eh?" Thol said. Inwardly he was visioning frying Tor over a high-level fire spell. More help meant less pay in the end. "How can you help us?"

"I've had to grow up on the streets. I can hold my own in a fight," the blue haired man said.

"So you're a thief then," Thol said bluntly.

"Please. Thief is such an ugly word. I prefer the term survivor."

"A thief," Thol said finally.

"All right, if that's the way you feel about it, fine. Still, I'm sure there's a big reward from the king for getting the princess back and admit it, you could use all the help you can get."

"He does have a point Thol. That Garland person did take out half the castle guard after all," Tor said.

Thol sighed, his dreams of a rich payoff fading into dust. "I suppose. We're holed up in the inn for the night. We'll meet you here at day break."

"Excellent. I'm looking forward to working with you," Keza said with a grin on his face.

"Bull shit. You're looking forward to the gil you're going to get for the reward, that's what," Thol said.

Keza grinned even wider. "Okay. You got me. Care for a game of dice?" he said, holding up a pair.

"Yeah right. I think I'd prefer to keep my money for the time being. I don't have much of it at the moment as it is anyway. Tor," he said, wrenching his partner's attention from the girl who was currently dancing on the stage.

"What?" he said, seemingly dazed.

"I'm going to the inn now and going to sleep. Try not to trip over your tongue when you leave and if you wake me up whenever you decide to leave here I'll introduce you to a high-level fire spell." With that, Thol got up and left. . . .

* * * *


	3. Chapter Three: Big Man with a Big Stick

Chapter Three: Big Man with a Big Stick

To his credit, Tor didn't make any noise when he stumbled into the room at the inn at an obscene hour. He did ,however, wake Thol up shortly after the first rays of sunlight could be seen in the sky with his excessively loud snoring. Thol got dressed with a minimum of swearing at his slumbering partner and left to get something to eat at the pub.

It was a lot quieter then it had been the night before as most of the regulars were probably nursing hangovers in whatever gutter they collapsed in last night. Thol walked up to the counter and ordered something for breakfast. He paid the 10 gil in advance and was about to go sit down when he noticed that the people at the nearest table were staring at him.

"What the Hell are you looking at?" he yelled at them, perfectly aware that they were probably wondering why he was wearing a mask. The men looked away quickly as if they were afraid that the man in the mask was going to fry them with some sort of evil magic or something.  _Not far from the truth really_, he thought with in grin.

Done with terrorizing the locals, he went and sat down at an unoccupied table. A few minutes later, his breakfast arrived. _I bet she's wondering how I'm going to eat with the mask on_, he thought with a mental chuckle, referring to the girl who had brought him his meal. "Thank you," he said, effectively dismissing her. _Let her wonder_, he thought as she walked away.

With her out of sight, he pulled down the bottom half of his mask and began to eat. The mask he wore was in fact two masks which you wouldn't even notice unless you knew what you were looking for. He was rather proud of that fact.

He consumed his meal quickly and replaced his mask. He pushed the empty dishes away from him and leaned back on the wall to wait for the others. The serving girl came over a minute later to retrieve the dishes. Thol stared at her intensely and almost caused her to drop the dishes in her attempt to get away from him as soon as possible. He chuckled to himself when she was out of earshot.

Just then, Keza had entered the pub and looked around to see if he could spot one of his two partners. It didn't take him too long to spot Thol. He did, after all, tend to stand out in a crowd with his robes and large hat, not to mention the mask he wore for some reason. Keza just shrugged and went over to sit down.

"Morning, thief," Thol said in his usual manner.

"I have a name you know. If we're going to be working together we might as well start getting along," Keza replied.

"We wouldn't have to if I didn't have an idiot for a partner."

"True. Tor isn't exactly all that bright. Say, I was wondering, what's with the mask?"

"That's none of your business, thief. In the future if you want to remain in working condition, I suggest you not ask questions like that!" Thol snapped at him.

Keza held up his hands. "Hey, chill out now. I was just wondering."

"Well keep wondering then, but do it in your head."

"Thol," Keza said then, changing the subject. "Is that short for something? I've never heard that one before."

Thol was going to start yelling at him again but changed his mind, realizing that it was ridiculous to yell at him for every little thing. "Thollatos," he said after a moments pause.

"Thollatos," he said, same as before. "That sounds like it's from the Crescent Lake area, which would explain your vocation."

"Very good. You're not as dumb as a rock after all," Thol said bitterly. It was too early in the morning for him to deal with the likes of a common thief, especially one who just usurped a third of the reward money for rescuing the princess. He was thankfully granted silence until Tor finally dragged himself out of bed.

"Took you long enough," Thol said as his companion slumped into the nearest chair. "How long did you stay out 'til?"

"I don't remember. Must have been late though 'cause I'm really tired."

"I can tell. Just don't complain to me later if you get killed trying to rescue the princess," Thol said. After a few moments of watching Tor with his head down on the table, he stood up. "Well gentlemen, if you're all feeling up to it, shall we go to the castle now?"

Keza shrugged and stood up. Tor on the other hand groaned and tired to stand up. He did manage it after nearly falling over a few times. He more then likely had too much ale last night as well.

As they left, they failed to notice a rather large group of the pubs customers get up and follow them.

They were just passing by the building that was being constructed when the group surrounded them and the apparent leader stepped forward.

"Hey freak! We don't want you or your friends around this town, ya hear? And ya can forget rescuin' Princess Sara 'cause we're gonna do it," the man said with a heavy local accent.

"Look, jack ass, you'll be lucky if you could fight your way out of a shithouse and if you call me that one more time, you'll find out why people cross the street when they see me," Thol said getting angry.

"We can all see that already. It's 'cause yer so ugly, you little freak."

"Well, I warned him," Thol said to himself as he raised his hands and started casting a spell.

"Thol! Don't do it! The guards'll have you executed if you accidentally kill one of them," Keza warned as he pulled his arms down, disrupting the spell.

Thol just looked at his 'friend' for a moment, said "Fine," and suddenly swung his staff at the local man's head. The staff connected solidly and the man hit the ground unconscious. "You got lucky this time," he said as he started to walk away.

Their leader fallen, the others attacked to try and extract revenge.

_Oh Hell_, Keza thought as he dived into the mix. Tor was a second behind them and they were soon all in the middle of a rather hectic brawl.

The three were doing fine at first, but the locals had an assortment of non-edged weapons that they were using and it was causing quite a bit of damage to Tor and Keza. Thol on the other hand was able to hold his own and avoid most of the blows due to his staff.

Things started to look pretty bleak for the trio when one of them knocked out Tor with a club to the back of the head. Despite Keza's warning, Thol began to ready a spell.

Before he could even decide which one to use however, a large beam flew over top of them and crashed down on a group of locals. The fight stopped for the moment as everyone looked to see where the beam had come from, Thol thought he had a pretty good idea though.

The large man he had seen yesterday working on the building stood a few meters behind them with a look of disapproval on his face. The man that Thol had knocked out to start the fight was just now getting to his feet. The large man in blue clothes stepped up to the man shaking his head.

"Gash. Causing trouble again? Didn't you learn from the last time to leave the tourists alone?" the big man said.

The leader, Gash, looked over at the two standing members of the group and said, "We don't want foreigners here, especially freaks like that one!" He pointed to Thol as he said this. Keza had to hold him back again because of it. "They said they were going to rescue Princess Sara. Think of how embarrassing it would be to Coneria if a group of outsiders rescued her."

"Well who do suggest will do it then?" the big man asked.

"We can. The boys and I have a collection of old weapons and we've been practicing with them," Gash replied.

"Please Gash, you know as well as I do that you wouldn't be able to take care of a pack of imps. Tell you what, if it makes you feel better, I'll go with them."

"You're an outsider too! You don't belo-" Gash started to say.

The big man grabbed him by the front of his tunic and lifted him right off the ground. "I was born here for your information!" he yelled at him.

"Bull! That accent isn't local!" Gash yelled back trying to struggle out of his grip.

The big man shook his head. "Gash, you and your little group of ruffians had this coming to you," he said. With that, he gave Gash a head-butt that left him unconscious for the second time in ten minutes.

"Not your day is it?" Thol quipped to the unconscious man, a grin plastered on his face.

"Get 'em!" one of the other men yelled. The fight started anew with the addition of the large man tossing people about like rag dolls.

Seeing that they had no chance against the man, they eventually broke off into a run leaving their unconscious fellows behind.

"Disgusting," the big man said as they fled.

Thol stepped up beside him and also watched them go. "I'll say. Are all the locals like this?"

"No. Gash and his group have always been trouble makers. The Coneria Guards will be by soon to collect them all. This isn't the first time they've caused trouble. You won't be held accountable."

"I wasn't really worried about that. Thanks for the help, by the way. I'm Thollatos," he said extending his gloved hand.

"I am called Goro," the big man replied shaking Thol's hand with a strong grip. He noticed his mask but said nothing.

Thol and Goro walked over to where Keza was looking over Tor to see if there was any permanent damage. "How is he? Other than missing a few more brain cells that is," Thol asked.

"He's got a nasty lump on the back of his head and he's going to wake up with the worst head ache imaginable, but he'll live," Keza replied.

"Shame," Thol said, referring sarcastically to both the man's head ache and the fact that he'll live.

"You think we should take him to the clinic?" Goro asked.

"That might be a good idea. It wouldn't do to have him stumbling around the throne room when we go to the king," Keza said.

_The clinic. That girl might be there_, Thol thought absently. He chuckled as he watched Keza try and hoist up Tor despite the fact that he was barely able to walk himself.

"Here. I'll get him. You worry about yourself. You took quite a beating as well," Goro said. He tossed Tor over one shoulder casually as if he weighted nothing at all and started to the clinic.

"Here. Let me help you," Thol said helping him up and letting him use him for support.

"Thanks," Keza replied.

"No problem. If you hadn't stopped me back there, I might be fighting off the remaining half of Coneria's army," Thol said jokingly.

It took them about ten minutes to get to the clinic and by then Thol was regretting helping Keza all the way. He was getting rather tired and on top of that, Keza was heavier than he looked. _Probably from all the stolen merchandise he has on him_, he thought to himself. He frowned then. _I'd better check my pack after I get rid of this burden_.

A middle aged woman rushed to them when they entered. "Oh my lord! Bring them over here," she said, motioning to a pair of beds. "What happened to them?"

"Gash and his little group of misfits decided to cause a ruckus again," Goro stated, gently placing Tor on one of the beds. Thol was in the mean time easing Keza on to the other one. He immediately rushed off and began looking through his pack to see if anything was missing.

"You don't trust me!" Keza accused.

"Not even if my life depended on it," Thol stated. He was rather surprised to find the contents of his pack intact and all his gil in place. Still he gave Keza a stern glare just to make sure he never tried it.

The woman was assessing her patients when a girl came into the room.

"Mother, what's happened?" she asked.

Thol froze. It was indeed the same girl he had ran into the day before and she was still as pretty as he remembered.

"They got beat up by Gash's little gang. I'll need your help, dear," the woman said.

"Of course mother," the girl said.

"Why don't you see if the other two need anything while I get these two ready?"

"All right," she said. She went over to Goro first. "Goro. You in a fight? That's unusual."

"Yes well, he had it coming. Besides, they were outnumbered and it was the right thing to do."

The girl smiled slightly. "Of course. Were you hurt at all?"

"No. I managed to come out unharmed."

"All right. Can you help mother? Father is out getting supplies right now," she asked.

"Of course," the big man said walking over.

She turned to Thol now and froze. She hadn't noticed who it was until now. She was angry at him last night but after she had a little time to think about it, she realized that she had been excessively rude to him.

"So, we meet again," Thol said simply, unable to take his eyes off her.

"Indeed we do," she replied. She recovered from her initial shock and asked "Are you hurt?"

"I'm fine. Having a blunt weapon pays off sometimes," he replied.

They stood there for a moment, both thinking of different things.

"Sorry for yesterday," they said at the same time. They both laughed at the coincidence and Thol noticed that her smile made her even more beautiful.

"No," she said finally. "You don't have to apologize. I was the one being rude. It wasn't your fault. It could have happened to anyone."

"That's alright. I'm usually the one being rude so I guess I kinda deserved that. My names Thollatos."

"Melira," the white mage said. She then for the first time consciously noticed his mask. "Why do you-" she began to say, reaching for the mask.

"No! Don't!" Thol said loudly, pulling away from her.  His out burst had caused the others to briefly pause what they were doing to see what the commotion was all about.  Melira had recoiled as if struck from the sudden volume. "Don't ever touch my mask," he said in a more quiet voice.

"But I might be able to help you," she said.

"No you can't! If you want to help someone, go over there and help ugly and stupid," he yelled, motioning to his partners.

Her face gave away the fact that he had hurt her with his refusal for help. "Fine. I see what kind of person you are now," she said. "I take back my apology. You were right. You did deserve that!" she said angrily. With that she turned and walked away from him.

Thol watched her go and sighed. _Good job Thol. You almost became friends with the most beautiful girl in the world and then you blow her off because of your stupid eyes. All she wanted to do was help you_, his mind told him. "Shut up," he muttered to himself. . . .

* * * *

They stayed in the clinic while Tor and Keza recovered from their wounds. Thol had become even more irritable then he usually was and was taking it out on everybody, including Goro whom he had immense respect for because he kept his curiosity about his mask in check. He hadn't spoken directly to Melira since she had stormed away from him after revoking her apology.

The five of them sat around the beds now discussing the issue at hand. Thol was a little more distant then the others, propped against the far wall facing the others.

"You know, the temple isn't a place for amateurs. The undead creatures in there usually end up killing anyone who wanders in there. Are you guys sure you can handle it?" Goro was asking Tor.

Thol wasn't about to let that one go. He took great pride in his abilities and didn't like being called an amateur. "I could wipe that entire building clean with one spell I'll have you know," he said loudly.

The others just looked at him and turned back to each other.

"He could really. I've seen the kinds of spells he can cast. They are quite impressive," Tor said, backing his friend.

"Alright, so you can make it in, but Garland is no slouch. He was both the best fighter and best magician in the army before his treachery. Are you sure the three of you will be able to handle him?" Goro asked again.

"Are you offering us your assistance, good man?" Tor asked.

"If you think you'll need it, I'll be glad to go along. I am a patriot after all."

"All right then. Welcome aboard. The more the merrier," Tor replied.

"Oh, not again! Tor! What did I tell you about acting before you think? I'm starting to think that you can't think at all! That's four ways the reward has to be split now. The whole idea is to actually make some money off this," Thol said.

"Thol's got a point. If this keeps up, we won't even be able to pay for the traveling expenses," Keza said.

"Thank you. For once someone uses their head," said Thol.

"With an attitude like that, I don't see how you're going to be able to function as a team at all," Melira spoke up finally. "You don't care about anyone but yourself, do you?" she said, turning her head to Thol.  "You may be able to clear a room of monsters without trouble, but what about your friends? They could get hurt, and then what? I think for you to have any sort of chance at all in saving Princess Sara, you're going to need my help as well."

"Fine then! Why don't we just invite the entire Conerian army to join us as well?  Let's make it completely ridiculous!" Thol erupted. With that he abruptly got up and left the clinic.

"Thol! Wait!" Tor said.

"Let him go. He needs to cool off for awhile," Goro said. "From what I can tell about him, something has really upset him and I don't think it has anything to do with money."

"Well from what I can tell about him, it probably is," Melira commented. She really wasn't one to get angry, but for some reason the young black mage grated on her nerves. "I'm going to go for a walk. I think I need to cool down too," she said. She left seconds later.

"Tor," Goro said, getting the fighter's attention.

"Yeah?"

"You've known him longer then the rest of us. What do you suppose is wrong with him?"

"Well, I think you're right about the money thing. He may act like he worries about money, but I've seen him give away a whole months worth of his savings to a poor kid who walked funny. Almost everything about him is cloaked in masks."

"Speaking of masks," Keza said. "Do you happen to know why he wears one?"

Tor shook his head. "No. I've only asked him once and he exploded on me for it. I could tell he was serious that time."

"A man of many mysteries," Goro stated. Everyone in the room agreed with that. . . .

* * * *

Thol was sitting on a park bench watching the children play. He liked children for some reason. Their innocence calmed his spirit. The red fury was building in him in the clinic was gone now. He was ashamed of himself really. He was taking his frustration with himself on the others and they didn't deserve it. If it was in his character to do so, he would go back right that moment and apologize to them.

He sighed and leaned his head back against the bench, relishing the peaceful sounds of the children playing. He wasn't sure how long he had been like that when a voice snapped him out of the trance he was in.

"This was the last place I'd ever expect to see you," said the pleasant voice.

Thol opened his eyes and saw Melira standing before him. "It's the children. Their carefreeness calms me and reminds me of when I was that young," he said. He looked down at the ground then and said, more to himself then to her, "I didn't exactly have a lot of time to enjoy that myself."

Melira was a bit stunned by his words. She had thought that he was a self centered man who cared little for others, but what he had just said proved that assumption to be wrong. She figured that he masked his personality just as he masked his face. _Why do you hide your face, Thol. What terrible secret do you hold?_ she thought, her heart welling up with sympathy.

Thol shook himself. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't bore you with my brooding," he said.

"No, that's all right. If you want to talk about it then do so. I don't mind."

Thol thought for a moment. "No. There's nothing you can do to help. Forget I even said anything."

She stepped up right beside him then. She began to reach out towards his mask again and asked "Why?" in a quiet voice.

Thol stopped her hand with his own and said "Please. I asked you not to touch my mask."

She could clearly hear the pain in his voice and wished he would just let her in so she could easy his pain. She knew that he wasn't ready for that yet, so she sighed and let her hand drop. She looked down at the ground and continued to wonder why.

Thol could see that it was bothering her that he wouldn't let her know. He knew that she wanted to help him, but he didn't understand why.

"The others must be getting worried about you. We should go back now," Melira said after some time.

Thol just nodded and stood up. He took one last look at the happy children and started to head back to the clinic. Melira was soon right beside him. They said nothing as they made their way back. Both had the same question on their minds.

_Why?_ . . . .

* * * *


	4. Chapter Four: Enter the Light Warriors

Chapter Four: Enter the Light Warriors

The five of them were sitting just outside the throne room waiting to be seen by the king. Thol was impatiently tapping his staff against the wall as he sat. The others had said nothing about his sudden mood swings and he was glad for it. He looked over across the room to where Melira sat, quietly talking to Goro. He didn't know why, but seeing her talking to him made him uncomfortable.

He had no further time to dwell on the subject, however, as the great set of double door that lead to the throne room suddenly opened. A rather frail looking guard announced that the king would now see them.

"It's about time," Thol said. He got up and entered the throne room ahead of the others. It was agreed before they had left the clinic that Thol and Goro would do most of the talking. Thol noticed that there was another person already in the throne room. He was tall, dressed in red clothing from head to toe, including a large red hat with a white feather in it. Also white was his rather lengthy hair.

"Welcome," the king said as they entered. "I have been told that you have come to my kingdom to rescue my daughter from that villain, Garland."

"That is indeed why we have come, your majesty," Thol said, bowing in his own manner.

"Excellent. You'd be surprised at the lack of people who are willing to come forward and aid the crown."

"It's the stories that they have heard about Garland, my lord," Goro said. "No one is confident enough of their skills to want to face him. Only a band of foolish trouble makers have seriously considered it I'm afraid."

"I see," said the king. "You must be the ones I was told would come then."

"Your majesty?" Thol asked, not understanding what he was talking about.

"Lukahn's prophecy," the man in red said, speaking for the first time. "'Lo, when the earth crumbles and seas stagnate, when the fires grow cold and the air becomes still, then shall the Dark One appear and seize from the throne of the Great Coneria the heiress to the kingdom. Thus, it shall be a sign and the Light Warriors shall appear and cast light back into the darkness.'"

"Oh great. Another maniac spouting garbage about Light Warriors and prophecies," Thol said.

"I assure you, Silver One, the prophecy is true," said the man in red.

Thol eyes narrowed at his words. _How does he know about that?_ "Why did you call me that?" ha asked, somewhat shaken.

"That is how the prophecy refers to you. I do not know what it means, but it will be revealed to us at one point in our journey."

"Our? What do you mean by that?" Keza asked.

"The prophecy says that the Light Warriors will number six. To be more specific, they are The Swordsman, The Silver One, The Savior, The Seeker, The Holy Warrior, and myself, The Beholder."

"Are you trying to tell me that _we_ are these so-called Light Warriors?" Thol asked.

"That is exactly what I am telling you. I've researched the prophecy for many years and I can assure you that it hasn't been wrong once. The first signs were the corruption of the four light orbs that keep the world in balance. There have been other signs as well, but those were the important ones."

"I think you've got the wrong people here," Keza said, having as much trouble accepting this as the others. "I, for one, don't fit the descriptions of any of the six. I don't know about the rest of you though."

"No. He's right," Thol said.

"What?" half of them said at once.

"I said he's right," he repeated, his voice sounding weak. "The name he called me…" he said trailing off.

"What about it?" Melira said, sensing that there was some connection between it and the reason he wore a mask.

"No. Never mind," he said. Melira lowered her head in disappointment. "Who did you say created this prophecy?" he asked the man in red.

"Lukahn."

"Of Crescent Lake?"

"Yes."

"Right.  I too am from Crescent Lake and he used to talk to us in school when we were young. I've had the opportunity to talk with him in private on a few occasions. Everything he has ever said has come true. He even told me that I'd eventually meet Tor. That was seven years before I did. Lukahn described him perfectly."

"So you believe all this?" Keza asked, still not convinced.

"I believe him. Thol's never lied to me," Tor said, totally ignoring the fact that every last one of his jests were blatant lies.

Melira also believed him, though she really didn't know why. "I trust his words as well," she said.

Goro just silently walked over beside the other three, confirming his agreement as well.

"Ah Hell. Why not?" Keza said. "Let's do it. We'll probably pick up a lot of treasures along the way," he said.

"Good. My name is Valon," the man in red introduced himself.

"Thollatos," Thol said. He motioned behind him. "My partner Tor."

"I am Goro," the big man said, nodding his acquaintance.

"Melira."

"Keza," said the doubtful man.

"A thief," Thol added.

"Please. There is no need for name calling," Valon said, a small smile gracing his lips. "I know of Keza's occupation. There is quite a high reward for him in Elfland, but don't worry, I won't turn you in and when everything is finished, I'm sure the prince will pardon you."

"Well that's good to know," Keza replied.

"So what do you do?" Tor asked.

"I never really settled on one thing. I can use both white and black magic and I can use almost all types of weapons, though I prefer a short sword and I can't seem to grasp how the higher level magics work."

"A red mage?" Thol asked.

"Yes. Your background in Crescent Lake has made you an educated man. Not too many people outside of Elfland are aware of my unique title."

"Well I _am_ the best mage ever to come out of there," Thol replied proudly.

The king had been rather silent while Valon was explaining the prophecy to them, but now that he was finished, he spoke up again. "Please Warriors, if you have no other needs, may I ask you to go bring back my daughter now? I am terribly worried about her."

"Of course, your majesty. We will leave immediately," Valon said.

"You have the blessing of the entire kingdom with you. Good luck," the king said.

The six Light Warriors bowed with different degrees of ability and exited the throne room. . . .

* * * *

Just outside Coneria . . . 

"Well, here we go again," Thol commented.

"Yeah," Tor replied.

"What are you guys talking about?" Keza asked.

"Tor and I just went this way two days ago to go explore a cave."

"There's a cave out here?" Goro asked.

"Yes. It's just outside the forest over there," Thol said motioning to the forest that was even now in view.

"What did you find in there?" Keza asked.

"Just a couple of stupid ogres," Thol replied.

"Ah. Oh well," Keza said, the disappointment in his voice clear.

The walked along for a few minutes talking amongst themselves in little groups. Melira was watching Thol and wondering why he had reacted the way he did to the name Valon called him. Her curiosity got the best of her after a few more minutes and she found herself walking faster to catch up with him.

"Thol," she said as she came up beside him.

"Yeah, what is it?" he asked.

"Valon called you 'The Silver One'. Why did you react that way to it?"

"Never mind," he said.

"But…" she began.

"I told you, no. Why do you keep insisting on asking me things that I've told you not to ask about?" he asked, getting a little irritated.

"Because I want to help you!" she said, her voice going up a notch in volume.

"And I already told you once that you can't help me! Now stop asking me stupid questions!" he yelled. _What am I doing?_ he thought just after he said it.

"Fine! If you want to be like that then you can suffer for the rest of your life for all I care!" she yelled back at him. She stormed off to the back of the group trying to put as much distance between them as possible.

Thol watched her go. He didn't understand her at all. "What exactly is her problem anyway?" he asked Tor.

"Thollatos my friend, sometimes you can be such a fool," Tor said and he continued walking toward the temple.

"What are you talking about?" Thol asked, even more confused.

Tor didn't answer him. He just kept walking. . . .

* * * *

They had been on the road for about an hour when a group of imps charged out of the forest making their strange screeching noises as they did.

The group jumped into battle readiness and met the imps head on. Thol was fighting off three of them himself and was getting annoyed with them. He began to chant a medium-level lightning spell that would send the surviving imps scurrying back to the forest.

Thol released his spell and stood back to watch the effects. To his surprise, the spell seemed to be about twice the power it should have been. He realized what happened then and looked at Valon. "Do you mind?" he asked in an annoyed voice.

"Sorry. Didn't know that you were casting as well," the man in red said.

"Whatever. It got the job done anyway. I think between the two of us we probably killed them all."

"That was . . . Amazing," Goro said.

"Not really. That was only a level three spell after all," Thol commented.

"Yes. The higher ones are the ones that are truly impressive," Valon said.

"So what level are your abilities up to?" Thol asked.

"Level four," Valon said.

"That's it? You're what, seven years older than me and that's as far as you got?"

"Well, what are you at?"

"Level five of course. If you can't even cast a level five spell then you're not going to be much help."

Melira was walking by at the time and she said "Well we can't all grow up in Crescent Lake and be pampered like you were."

Thol was going to yell something back at her but she had already gone by so he just let it drop. "I was not pampered I'll have you know," he said more to himself then to the others.

They walked on with little conversation after the battle. Keza spoke up suddenly with a rather insightful question.

"Where are we going to camp for the night?"

"What are you talking about?" Tor asked.

"Don't tell me you think we'll be able to make it all the way there in one day," Keza said.

"Hmm . . . He's got a point Tor. It took us a day, round trip, just to get to the cave and back and that's only about half way," Thol said.

"That and we have to go through the marsh. The footing there is terrible and it will slow us down considerably," Goro said.

"Do you think we'll be able to make it through the marsh before dark?" Thol asked.

"If we don't make any unnecessary stops, we'll just make it out in time," Goro replied.

"You seem to know this area fairly well," Valon commented.

"I grew up in the forest just south of the temple," he replied.

"Wasn't that dangerous?" Keza asked.

"Not really. I was always a rather large person."

Keza just shrugged.

"Yeah, well anyway, I think well camp just outside that forest for the night. We want to be fresh when we meet up with Garland after all," Thol said.

"Right," Tor added.

The walk to the marsh itself was rather uneventful, just the occasional skirmish with a pack of wolves or some imps. The first few minutes of their journey into it however, were a different story.

"This place stinks," Melira commented, her face wrinkling up in disgust.

"It the stagnant water," Goro said. "There's about 200 years worth of rotting vegetation and other things in here."

"Two hundred years, you say. Why two hundred?" Keza asked, looking like he was having a tough time keeping his last meal down.

"Before the orbs of earth and water were corrupted, there used to be a small lake here. Without the powers of the orbs however, the earth eroded away and the river that fed the lake dried up. Now all that's left is the marsh you see before you," Goro told them.

"You seem to know a lot. Where did you learn all this from?" Thol asked.

"My master taught me these things. He also taught me how to fight so that I could survive living around the temple."

"He sounds like a wise man," Tor commented.

"Indeed," Goro replied, sounding somewhat sad.

They were climbing over a rather large tree that was half rotten at the time. Melira lost her footing and would have fallen if Thol hadn't caught her.

"Don't touch me!" she snapped at him after she regained her footing.

"You're welcome," he said bitterly as she stalked away from him.

The remainder of the journey through the marsh was unpleasant to say the least. Keza inevitably lost the battle with his stomach along with his last meal. Thol couldn't really blame him. The smell would turn anything's stomach. He was lucky though. His mask filtered out most of the smell, but unfortunately not all of it.

Just as Goro had predicted, they got out of the marsh just as the sun began to set. They were all wet and uncomfortable, Tor most of all. He had fallen right through a rotten log and ended up getting soaked in marsh water. The others could only imagine what it felt like to have the slimy water sloshing around inside his armor.

They moved far enough away from the marsh so that they didn't have to smell it anymore and made camp, practically collapsing from the entire ordeal.

Thol noticed that Melira was trying her best to ignore him, usually moving as far away as she could.

"Don't worry. She's just frustrated with you. She'll get over it," Goro said to him.

"What are you talking about?" Thol asked.

The big man chuckled. "Your distress over how things are going between the two of you is evident, but I wouldn't worry about it too much.  As I said, she'll get over it and you no doubt become the best of friends afterwards."

"That's ridiculous! She's an annoying little brat and that's all," Thol said.

Goro chuckled again. "Whatever you say, Thol. She'll come around." The big man got up went to practice for the up coming battle then.

_Meddling fool. You've no idea what you're talking about_, he thought, not sure if he even believed those words.

Thol went to sleep that night wondering if he really was developing some sort of emotional attachment to her. . . .

* * * *


	5. Chapter Five: The Princess and the Bad M...

Chapter Five: The Princess and the Bad Man

Thol woke up with all sorts of aches and pains from the uneven ground he had slept on. That was one thing he hated about traveling all the time. You can't always stay at an inn when night falls.

Tor was surprisingly already up. Thol walked over to his friend and partner.

"You're up early. That unusual for you," Thol said.

"Yeah well, you know me. Every time there's a major battle ahead, I never sleep well," he replied.

"You worried?" Thol asked.

"Not so much for the two of us, but we're not the only ones involved this time. I'm sure Goro will come out all right. He could probably take out a troll on his own."

"Yeah. Valon should be okay too. As much as I berated him for not being able to use level five magic, he'll be okay with the lower stuff."

"Moreover, he can use a decent weapon too," Tor added.

"What's wrong with a staff? I've never had any problems using one."

"Thol, you know as well as I do that you can't really do all that much damage with that little stick of yours."

"Funny, I seem to recall you being the one to get knocked out in that fight."

Tor thought about that for a moment and shrugged. "Okay, you've got a point there."

Goro was the next to wake up. He nodded to them as a greeting and immediately went back to practicing his moves. The two of them watched him for a few moments when Tor spoke up again.

"Like I said, he'll be fine. I'm more worried about Keza and Melira," he said.

Thol nodded. "Keza's okay, but he really doesn't have any advantages other than his speed. Melira on the other hand . . . " Thol said, trailing off.

"Yeah. She'll be a treasure for after the fight, but I'm not sure she's going to contribute too much to the battle itself."

"I guess I'll have to keep an eye on her. She's not as good with her staff as I am and her magic is somewhat limited," Thol said.

"You'll keep an eye on her?" Tor asked with a smirk.

"I mean we. Don't get any smart ideas or you'll find yourself waking up without any hair," Thol said defensively. _What the Hell is with everybody?_ he thought.

They had a quick breakfast before heading into the forest. They had been going for about two hours when they found a clearing in the forest. There was a small cabin in the middle, right beside a small pond.

"I thought we might run into this place," Goro said.

"What is it?" Keza asked. He looked much better than he did last night after coming out of the marsh.

"It's where I use to live with my master,"

"Use to?" Valon asked.

"Yes. I left when he died. I've been taking odd jobs here and there ever since then," Goro replied.

"Shame. Your master seemed like a very wise man," Tor said. "What happened?"

"He was very old and had been getting sick during the winters. His body just couldn't take it anymore."

"I'm sorry. Didn't mean to force you," Tor apologized.

"Don't worry. Master said he was ready to move on. He lived a long full life."

Thol was getting restless and decided that they had been here long enough. "Look, I hate to break up all this teary eyed reminiscing, but standing here talking all day isn't getting us any closer to rescuing the princess," he said.

"Do you always have to be so rude about everything?" Melira asked in an angry tone.

Thol chose not to answer her.

"No. Thol's right. We've been here long enough. Master wouldn't want us to stay any longer in light of our mission," Goro said.

Thol nodded his thanks at his support and started off toward the temple again. "Goro," he said after a few steps.

"Yes?"

"You said that you use to go to the temple to practice your skills, right?"

"Yes."

"Good. You know the way better than the rest of us. I think you should take the lead. We'll probably get there faster that way."

"All right. Good thinking, Thol," Goro complimented him.

Thol again said nothing but let him pass. He happened to catch a stray glance from Melira and she gave him a withering look. He simply fell in behind Goro and ignored her.

The emerged from the forest and were given their first look at the temple.

"Ugly little place, isn't it?" Keza said.

"It's even uglier inside," Goro said. "It's not called the Temple of Fiends for nothing."

"Alright. We'd better be careful from here on in. Goro said that there are a lot of undead monsters roaming about in there," Thol said, again taking the lead.

Sure enough, just inside the entrance, they ran into a large pack of zombies and ghosts. With the six of them, they made short work of them.  Melira proved that she could handle herself in a fight against the undead, her Harm magic especially useful and probably saving them from a few minor wounds in the long run.

"There," Goro pointed. "If I were to take someone here, I'd keep them in that room. The monsters are afraid to go in there for some reason." He had pointed to a large set of doors set in a large structure in the center of the room.

"Everyone be ready. I doubt we'll be able to get the jump on this guy," Thol said.

Goro went ahead and placed his hand on the door handle. He looked at Thol, who made sure the others were ready, then nodded. Goro heaved the doors open and rushed in, the others right behind him.

A large armored man was in the center of the room, standing in front of an ominous looking black orb. He had his arms raised and was chanting something. Chained down to an altar of some sort behind that, was Princess Sara.

"Fiend!" Tor yelled, seeing the helpless princess.

The armored man turned at the sound of his voice and bellowed "Who dares come here to this black temple and interrupt this sacred ritual?"

Valon stepped forward and addressed the man. "Lo, Garland, The Dark One. As it was foretold in Lukahn's prophecy, we, the Light Warriors, have come to rid this world of you and the darkness you seek to bring and return Princess Sara, Heiress of Coneria, to her rightful place!"

"No one touches my princess! Light Warriors? Impertinent fools! I, Garland, shall knock you all down!" the armored man yelled. With that, he swept his arms toward them and they were indeed knocked over by an incredible blast of wind.

Tor was first to his feet and attacked Garland with all he was worth. Valon was right behind him and they soon found out that his fighting prowess was just as good as his magic. Thol and Valon both began casting spells at him, but they didn't seem to be doing much to the armored man. Goro seemed to be the one doing all the damage despite his lack of weapons. Garland wasn't able to hit him at all and Goro kept pummeling him with fists.

When he finally did get a hit in, he sent Goro flying across the room. He then lashed out with magic and blew back Tor and Keza. Thol sent another spell in his direction and was also blown across the room by a spell. Melira had been staying out of the way and casting curative spells when she could and Garland seemed to think that she posed the greatest threat because he sent a spell her way and it wasn't a simple wind spell either.

Thol had scouted the move and lunged to intercept it. The spell sent him into the wall, the impact knocking the wind out of him.

"Thol!" Melira said, rushing to his side. "Are you all right?" she asked.

Thol was trying to catch his breath and was pissed off. He got up and growled "I'll live. Go help Tor," he said noticing that Garland had just sent him flying head first into the wall.

Melira didn't move as Thol stood up and stood right in front of Garland. "Burn you bastard!" he yelled. He thrust his hands forward and a giant inferno erupted in Garland's direction. Garland raised his hand as if to attempt to deflect it, but there was no chance. The high-level fire spell incinerated him just like it had done the ogre back in the cave.

Thol collapsed in exhaustion. Melira was right there as soon as he went down. "What is it? Are you all right?"

"I'm fine. I'm just exhausted. Go help the others," he said.

"Are you sure? That blow you took looked fairly brutal," she said.

He could plainly see that she was worried about him. "Yes I'm sure. I'll be all right until you're done with the others."

"A-alright," she said finally. She got up and headed toward Tor, but she kept on looking back at him.

Thol slumped back down again when he was sure she was attending to Tor. He had almost used up all his magic energy with the last spell. He wasn't going to be very useful in battle for a day or so.

Melira had just finished getting Tor back up to par and the young swordsman went over to where the princess was and freed her from the chains that had bounding her to the altar. To Tor's surprise, the princess immediately latched onto him and wouldn't let go. He stood there stunned as the sobbing princess clung to him. Being the man that he was, he recovered his wits and carried her over to where the others were.

"Who are you?" the princess asked after she had composed herself some.

"We are the Light Warriors, my lady. We have come to save you as it was declared in the prophecy," Tor said.

"Oh, thank you!" the grateful princess said. She suddenly threw her arms about Tor's neck and kissed him.

Blushing furiously, Tor said "It was no problem."

Thol laughed at his friend's embarrassment and stood up. He was still a little weak from his spell casting however and he needed to use his staff for support. He looked down at himself and noticed the damage the spell did for the first time. He also realized that it hurt to breathe. _No wonder I had a hard time catching my breath_, he thought. . . .

* * * *

They had camped just outside the forest to rest their injuries from the battle. Melira and Valon could only do so much with their magic and then they too had exhausted themselves. 

Thol sat watching Tor and Princess Sara. The frightened princess had attached herself to the young swordsman similar to how an infant animal will consider the first thing it sees as its mother. Thol was both amused at his friend's predicament and happy for him. He sighed and leaned his head back against the tree he was sitting under.

He stayed like that for maybe five minutes when he heard someone approach. He opened his eyes to see Melira walking toward him. She sat next to him when she got there and looked at the ground. Thol thought that she looked like she was ashamed of herself.

"I'm sorry, Thol," she said after awhile.

"For what?" he asked.

"For treating you so poorly yesterday. I thought that you were a selfish, conceited person, but you saved me in there. Thank you."

"Oh. That," Thol said, looking at the ground, a little embarrassed. "It was nothing. Forget about it."

"Not likely," she replied. Thol looked at her but said nothing. "Thol," she began again after a few moments. "Why would you do that for me, but you won't let me help you?" she asked. She again reached for his mask, but he didn't pull away this time. "Why do you hide your face?"

"Ask me again sometime and I'll tell you. Just . . . Not right now," he said, feeling a bit nervous from her touch.

She smiled widely and said, "Okay. Thank you, Thol." She got up and left him then.

_Now was that so hard?_ he asked himself, leaning back against the tree again. He was thinking of her when he fell asleep. . . .

* * * *


	6. Chapter Six: Celebrate Good Times

Chapter Six: Celebrate Good Times

Their return to the castle was greeted with much fanfare. The king was so grateful for his daughters return that he ordered a celebration where the six of them would be publicly honored for their deeds. Tor was especially excited because Princess Sara declared that he would from that day forth be her knight. So the talented young swordsman would now be Sir Tor Zakon, Knight of Princess Sara.

Thol on the other hand was not looking forward to the celebration. He detested any situations involving large crowds. Nevertheless, Melira managed to talk him into attending. He decided to order more sightly clothes for the event due to the fact that his usual traveling robes were almost in tatters. The king has also given him a ceremonial wizard staff for the occasion, so he was pretty much set.

He did end up yelling at the orderly and chased him out of his room with a lightning spell hot on his heels for trying to take away his mask. "Stupid fool," he muttered to himself after he was alone again.

He and his friends were to meet in the lobby just outside of the ceremonial grounds. Thol was the second one there.

Keza, looking ridiculous in the black suit he was wearing, stood up to greet him. "Well, at least one of us looks right in all these fancy clothes," he said as he approached Thol.

"Of course I look right. I am a magician after all," he said.

"Touché," he replied simply.

The pair of them sat down and waited for the others. Valon was next to come. He was dressed relatively the same as before, just with more expensive clothing. "Must be nice not having to strain your creative thought when dressing for special occasions," Thol commented.

"Perhaps. Nice robes.  How long did it take you to design them?" the red mage asked.

"Six hours actually.  The first few drafts were horrendous," Thol replied.

"Impressive," was all he said, then he too sat down.

More time passed as Valon and Keza discussed various things. Goro entered a few minutes later dressed in formal monkish clothing. He sat next to Thol and commented on his robes. Thol repaid the compliment with one of his own and asked if he had seen the other two. Goro shook his head.

It was around ten minutes later when Melira entered. All four of them stopped what they were saying and stared at her. She was dressed in robes that appeared to be made of pure silver and wore a circlet that was definitely made out of silver. Without her hood, her long red hair could be clearly seen. All in all, she was stunning.

"I think my heart just stopped," Thol said quietly, not realizing what he had said. Goro chuckled at his friends comment.

"Melira," Keza said, the first one to recover their wits. "You look beautiful."

"Indeed.  Truly awe inspiring," Valon added from where he sat.

She smiled shyly and blushed at all the praise she was getting. "Thanks. You all look great too," she said. She walked over and took a seat right on the other side of Thol. She looked at him and asked "What do you think?"

He continued to stare at her for a few more seconds and said "Wow."

She giggled. "Thanks. I see you changed your robes as well. They suit you."

"Of course they do. I designed them," he said, trying to regain some semblance of coherency.

"They're very nice," she said. She looked at his mask then. "You told me to ask you later. Is now a good time?" she asked, reaching for his mask again.

He felt too dizzy to refuse. "My eyes. Look at them," he said.

She did and for the first time she realized that they were absolutely void of color, just black orbs. "Why are they like that?" she asked, confused.

"My mask has a special enchantment on it to prevent people form seeing what they really look like."

"Why don't you want people to see them?"

"They frighten people."

"Why?"

"I don't know. Even my parents can't look into them. I've looked at my own reflection, but I don't see what it is everyone is afraid of. All I see are my eyes, as oddly colored as they are."

"Oh, you poor soul," she said, her eyes brimming over with tears. She understood why he was the way he was now.

"Easy now," he said, baffled as to why she had begun crying. "It's nothing to get upset over. I can deal with it."

"But it must have been terrible for you growing up," she said. She managed to keep herself from crying any further. After a few minutes, she asked "Will you show me?"

Thol looked away. "No. I can't," he said.

There was a pain in his voice that she didn't understand. "But, why not?" she asked.

"I…" he said pausing from reluctance.  "I'm afraid they may scare you away from me as well," he said.

"Thol, your eyes won't scare me.  I promise you that," she said softly.

"No. I just can't. I'm sorry," Thol said. He stood up and walked away from her then.

Melira was going to get up and go after him, but Tor entered the room then.

Tor was dressed in what Thol thought was the most ridiculous suit of armor he had ever seen. He assumed it was supposed to make him look heroic, which it did, but in a real battle it would do more harm then good.

"The king summons us, my friends. It is time," Tor said.

"Good. I want to get out of this monkey suit as soon as possible," Keza said.

They all followed Tor to where they would be sitting for the ceremony and were greeted with the loudest cheer that any of them had ever heard when they stepped out into the light.

"Holy! That's a lot of people!" Goro said as he looked over the crowd.

They sat down and the ceremony officially got underway. The king introduced them one at a time and they each stepped forward to be recognized. Keza was announced first. He got a rather normal reaction. He was followed by Valon, who also received a normal reaction. Thol went next. His reaction was a mix of awe and fear, as he had suspected. Apparently the effects that his eyes had on people weren't totally contained by his mask. Melira went next and caused quite a stir in the crowd as it was evident by all the wolf whistles and cat calls. She blushed at the crowd's reaction and quickly stepped back beside the others. She cast a quick glance at Thol where he stood looking off to the side.

Goro was announced immediately after her and got an above average reaction due to his popularity in the city. That still didn't compare to the reaction Tor got when he stepped forward. Word had spread quickly that he going to be the princess' knight.

After a seemingly never ending sequence of speeches by various members of the royal family and other high placed nobles, Tor was officially knighted and then a great feast was set out for those in attendance.  Music started playing for people to dance to later as they all settled to eat.

Thol only ate a little of the amazingly tasteful meal and sat with a drink in his hand scowling at anyone who happened to look his way. He was angry at the people's reaction to him and figured that he might as well give them a reason to be afraid. He looked over to see Tor dancing with his princess and smiled inwardly. He had his lower mask off so he wasn't about to let people know what he was thinking.

Goro was off to the side giving some of the nobles some practical advice to whatever problems they told him. Thol mused about how proud his master would have been to see him now.

He looked around to see if he could spot Keza, but he was no where in sight. _I don't even want to know where he is right now. It's probably not good_, he thought, increasing his scowl at the though of the nimble thief.

To no surprise to him, Valon was speaking with the king and queen, no doubt telling them more about the prophecy. He really didn't know what to think of the white-haired man who had called him The Silver One. He understood the reference.  It was his eye color.  The thing he didn't understand is why he had been chosen as one of the Light Warriors.

He shrugged and looked around some more. He looked over to where Melira had been sitting and saw that she wasn't there. _Probably off dancing with the townsfolk_, he thought. _She's not like you after all, Thol. She probably still likes to have fun_. "Shut up," he said quietly. He tried looking around for her, but he couldn't see her. He shrugged and took another sip of his drink.

Quickly becoming bored of sitting there glaring at people, he got up and walked over to the balcony. He noticed that people gave him a wide birth.  Walking to the edge, gazed up at the stars and sighed. He hated to admit it, even to himself, but he was lonely.

He had no idea how long he stood there, but he never expected to here the voice behind him.

"What are you doing out here all by yourself, Thol?"

_Melira_, he thought. He knew her voice well enough by now. He turned around to look at her. She smiled slightly when she could see his face, what wasn't covered by the mask that is. "Nobody wants me in there and besides, I like looking at the stars. At least they aren't afraid of me," he replied. She walked up beside him and gazed up at the night sky herself.

"Yes, the stars are nice, but don't believe that they don't want you in there, Thol. They just don't know you yet."

He just stood there and stared at her for a moment. "What are you doing out here?" he asked suddenly.

She glanced at his sideways. "Looking at the stars, silly," she said with a playful smile.

"I mean what are you doing out here with me? Shouldn't you be off in there breaking hearts or something?"

She laughed at his choice of words.  She turned to face him and said, "I already know most of the people in there. There aren't too many hearts in there that I haven't broken, as you say, and besides, I was looking for you."

"Why?" he asked.

"Um…  I was wondering if you'd like to dance with me?" she said, looking down at her feet shyly.

_All these normal people running around in there and she wants to dance with me? I don't get it_, he thought. "I'd love to," he said, not quite believing he was saying it.

She smiled widely and grabbed his hand. "Great! Come on! The next song is about to start," she said, dragging him back into the room.

_Oh great. What did I get myself into?_ he though as she lead him, to his discomfort, to the very center of the room. _Oh well. Might as well make the most of it_. "How well can you dance?" he asked her suddenly.

"Good enough. Why?"

"Because, if I'm going to make a fool of myself, I might as well do it with style. Follow my lead," he said as the music started up again.

_What is he up to?_ Melira asked herself. He started off fairly simple, but when the music picked up, his steps started getting more and more complicated. _Wait a minute! I know this dance!_ she thought as she started to dance along with him.

Thol actually smiled slightly when he became aware that she was familiar with the dance as well. He was impressed. Not too many people knew this one.

The other people around them soon stopped their own dancing to watch the two of them. It was a very impressive display and the two of them worked perfectly together.

"What's going on over there?" the king asked as he noticed that everyone had stopped dancing.

Tor looked over and saw the two of them in the center of the crowd and almost choked on his drink. Thol was the last person he'd expect to see dancing, let alone well enough that the entire dance floor would stop and watch them. "It seems like my two comrades are putting the rest of our dancing skills to shame," Tor said in an amazed voice.

As the song came to and end, the crowd clapped and cheered loudly. Thol winced inwardly at being the center of attention, but at least they weren't cringing away from him in fear. To his surprise, it was Melira who rushed them off the dance floor, blushing furiously with her eyes downcast shyly.

When they had escaped the mob of people and where back at their seats, Thol turned to her. "I'm impressed. That particular dance is rather obscure," he said.

"I'm impressed as well. Where did you learn to dance like that?" she asked.

"My mother. She is the greatest dancer in Crescent Lake, believe it or not."

"I can imagine if you can dance like that," she said, smiling at him.

The rest of the night went by entirely too fast for Thol's liking. Melira had stayed with him the whole time and wasn't exactly thrilled when the party began to wind down.  The party being over, he walked with her to her room, his own being just down the hall a bit.

"Thank you, Thol," she said as she turned to him. "I had more fun tonight then I've had in a long time."

"It was probably just the atmosphere. I'm known to be notoriously boring," Thol replied.

She smiled at him. "Oh Thol, you can be so hopeless at times."

Thol didn't quite understand what she was getting at.  He furrowed his brow in thought, trying to figure out what she meant by that.

When he didn't say anything for about half a minute, she broke the silence. "Well, goodnight Thol. See you in the morning."

"Good night," he replied.

She smiled at him again and went into her room.

As the door closed, Thol almost said 'Wait,' but the word died on his lips. _What exactly do you expect from her? A kiss? Don't be ridiculous_, he told himself. He placed his hand on the now closed door momentarily before walking off to his own room, his mind a whirl of confused thoughts and feelings. . . .

* * * *


	7. Chapter Seven: The Journey Begins

Chapter Seven: The Journey Begins

In the morning, the six of them gathered once again in the throne room.

"I thank you once again, Light Warriors, for rescuing my daughter," the king said to them.

"It was nothing," Tor said.

"Indeed. My daughter seems quite taken with you, young man. Let's hope that you don't happen upon a fatal wound during your quest. Sara would be crushed to hear so," the king said.

"Um, excuse me, your majesty, but what quest?" Thol asked.

"Why, the quest to revive the orbs of course. You are the Light Warriors after all."

"You mean there's more?" Thol exclaimed.

"Oh, right. I forgot to tell you all about that," Valon said. "After we rescue Princess Sara we are to go out to the four corners of the world and revive the orbs."

"Oh, is that all?  And here I thought it was going to be something spectacular," Thol replied with his usual sarcasm. "Just what exactly is that supposed to accomplish?"

"Well, in theory the world will start to heal itself from the centuries of corruption that has plagued it, but no one can really be sure," Valon replied.

"Well what does the Prophecy say?" Goro asked.

"That's the problem. The prophecy only foretells the reviving of the earth and abruptly stops after that."

"Why? Didn't Lukahn finish it?" Melira asked.

"Unfortunately not. Lukahn's visions stopped suddenly and violently one night and he has not had a vision since then," Valon said.

"When was that?" Thol asked.

"About thirty years ago I hear."

"That's impossible. He foretold my meeting Tor only a year before I left Crescent Lake. His prophetic powers are still intact," Thol argued.

"Stop and think about it for a minute, Thol. Lukahn spent most of his life seeing visions revolving around the prophecy. We are the Light Warriors. The Light Warriors are part of which prophecy?"

Thol frowned. "I see," he said. Lukahn had already foreseen his meeting with Tor long before either of them had been born. He didn't need his visions to be able to tell him that.

After a brief period of silence, Tor spoke up. "Well. . . I guess we'd better follow our destiny then. The orbs are waiting."

Thol sighed. "I suppose so. There's the problem of the bridge being out however."

"Don't worry about that. I've sent a regiment of my troops to the bridge to speed up the repairs. The bridge should be completed within the day," the king replied.

"Well then," Thol said.

"I think maybe we should go back into town and prepare for our journey," Goro said.

"Right. Maybe now that we've saved the princess the townsfolk will be able to talk about something else," Thol commented.

"Your majesty, we will take our leave now," Tor said.

"Right. Good luck on your journey. If you need anything, anything at all, just come and ask me. I'll see to it that you receive it," the king said.

"Of course, your majesty," Tor said.

The six bowed again and left for the city.

"If we split up, we can limit the time it takes for preparation," Goro said as they walked through the halls.

"You're right. Tor, you and Keza head to the weapons shop and see what you can get. Between the two of you, you should be able to get the best weapons at the lowest price," Thol said. "Once you're done there, head over to the armor shop and get what you can."

"I'll go get what we'll need from the general store," Goro offered.

"Right," Thol replied. "Valon, you see if you can find out anything from the townspeople. They may have something useful to say to us."

Valon nodded.

"Thol," Melira said.

"Yes?"

"I'd like to go tell my parents that I'm leaving."

"Alright. You go there. I'll see what this place has in the ways of magic. We'll meet up at the pub when we're done."

"Right," Tor said. He and the others started off at that.

Thol was about to head for the nearest magic shop when Melira stopped him.

"Thol. Will you come with me to my parents' house? I won't be long and I want go to the magic shops too," she said.

Thol looked at her. "Okay. I guess so. As long as you don't take too much time."

She smiled at him. "Great! Let's go!" she said, grabbing his hand and practically dragging him behind her.

"Whoa! I can walk on my own you know," he commented.

"Oh! Sorry Thol," she said. She let go of his hand then and slowed to a more reasonable pace.

Thol was vaguely disappointed that she had let go, but didn't waste time dwelling on it.

They were stopped numerous times on the way to the clinic by grateful townsfolk. It ended up taking them twice as long as it should have to get there.

They entered the building and Thol thought, _Good. There's no customers_. He had enough fanaticism for one day already.

"Mom. Dad. Are you here?" Melira said as she went further into the house.

"In here dear," her mother said, summoning her to the other room.

"I'll wait here," Thol said.

Melira nodded and went to see her mother.

Thol took a seat and waited. He had been waiting for about two minutes when an older man entered.

The man noticed Thol sitting there and asked "Are you here to be healed?"

"No, I'm just waiting for Melira," Thol replied.

The other man took a closer look at him. "Hey! You're one of the Light Warriors, aren't you?"

"Unfortunately," Thol replied.

"I'm Melira's father," the man said, extending his hand.

Thol grudgingly took the man's hand and shook it. "Thollatos. Black mage. Light Warrior too apparently."

"Melira is one of them too, isn't she?" he asked.

"Yes," Thol replied.

"Then she'll be going with you then?"

"Yes."

Her father stood there for a moment, looking like he was in deep thought. "May I ask you to do me a favor?"

"Like what?"

"Will you look after Melira for us?"

Thol's eyebrow went up. "What do you mean?"

"Make sure she gets back home alright. Keep her safe. She's only young still and doesn't have much experience outside the city."

Thol groaned inwardly. "I'm not much older than she is," he commented.

"Maybe not, but I've heard that you've come all the way from Crescent Lake. To get here from there requires a certain degree of skill," her father countered.

Thol sighed. It was his intention to begin with to look out for her but he still didn't like being railroaded into the job. "Yeah. Alright. I'll make sure she stays as safe as possible. You have my word on it."

"Thank you," the other man said.

Just then, Melira and her mother entered the room. "Dad! You're home!"

Thol sat back down again and waited for Melira to say goodbye to her father. He thought back to the request he had just made of him and groaned inwardly again. _Why me?_ he thought. . . .

* * * *

Tor and Keza had just walked out of the weapons shop. Just as Thol had predicted, they got the best weapons in the shop for the best prices.

"Well, I think that went well," Keza said, grinning at his own handy work. He had haggled down to the last gil with the merchant.

"It's good to see that you have some skills that fall on the right side of the law," Tor commented.

"One does have to survive, you know, but thanks anyway. Your knowledge of weapons is astounding, by the way. Most of those swords looked the same to me."

"I spent years training under a great swordsman. It was expected of me to be able to select the best weapon available."

"I imagine so.  You trained under Zakon right?  What's it like being trained by a legend?"

"It was hard at times. You're expected to one day fill his shoes and that can put a lot of strain on people. Most of the others that he had taken in had eventually quit because of the stress. There were only three of us to make it through the whole thing."

"Who were they?"

"Well, I was one of them as you know. The second, my brother actually, was Madon. He was better than I was."

"Was?" Keza asked.

"Yeah. About a year before I met Thol, he and I were working at the docks in Provoka.  He asked me to go check around the back of the customs office while he re-harnessed his armor.  I had just gone around back and was looking around when I heard him shout in alarm.  I rushed back around the office, but by then it was too late.  The pirates that had landed silently while we had our backs turn had taken my brother by surprise and struck him down before he could even draw his sword.  I managed to hold them back until the other guards made it to the scene, but Madon was already gone.  Some of the townspeople blamed me for his death saying that I shouldn't have left him.  I only stayed for a few more days before I decided to leave town.  I've been on the road ever since."

"Geez. I'm sorry I asked," Keza said, his jovial mood sobered by his friends story.

"Nah. That's alright. I don't get to tell it much. I found out a few months later that the pirate captain's name was Bikke. I've been keeping an ear out for any word of him since then."

"Have you heard anything?"

"Just a few stories about raids on the open seas, but nothing like what happened that day."

"I'm sure you'll find him one day."

"Perhaps. It's been quite awhile since I've heard anything about him. Rumor has it that his ship was sunk during a violent storm."

Keza just shrugged. "We'll worry about that later," he said. "Right now we've got to put the amour dealer out of business," he said grinning.

Tor looked up and saw the amour shop. He grinned too and they stepped into the shop. . . .

* * * *

Thol had glanced over the books on the shelf. "You call this magic? An imp could cast better spells than this!" he fumed after calculating the worth of them all. He could already cast every one of them.

"Easy now, Thol.  Coneria isn't exactly well known for its magic," Melira said.

Thol looked at her. "Oh Hell. Let's go to the white magic shop."

They left the black magic shop and started the short walk to its counterpart next door.

"What level are you up to?" Thol asked suddenly, about half way there.

"What? Oh! Only level two," she said, a little ashamed of herself.

"That's it?" he said, then realizing how silly it was for him to say that, he added, "Oh well. Like you said, Coneria isn't a magic city. I'd teach you myself but I'm not a white mage."

"Thanks anyway, Thol."

They entered the little shop that looked almost identical to the black magic one. Melira immediately went up to the counter.

"Melira! What are you doing here?" the man behind the counter asked, a look of surprise on his face.

"Hey, Arbo. I came to see if you have any foreign spells in stock right now," Melira asked.

"Sorry. I haven't been able to get any because of the bridge being out. I hear that the king has sent a regiment of troops to help with the repairs," the shopkeeper, Arbo, said.

"Yes. He has. Too bad you don't have any spells. I haven't learned a new spell in months."

Thol had been standing in the background the whole time. He was becoming aware that it had been almost an hour since they had split from the others. He walked over to Melira and got her attention.

"Sorry to interrupt, but it's getting time for us to go to the pub to meet the others."

"Okay, Thol," she said. She turned back to Arbo. "Sorry. Gotta go."

"Don't worry about it.  You've more important things to do then stand around chatting with a silly shop keeper."

"Thanks, Arbo. Bye."

"Good journey. Stay safe."

They left then and headed to the pub. They were again stop periodically by people who wanted to thank them personally. Thol was quickly becoming irritated with their sudden fame and made it known by the scowl on his face.

After one such incident, Melira asked him about it.

"I'm sorry, but we'll never get to the pub at this rate."

"And what do you call that then?" she asked, pointing at the building just ahead of them.

Thol looked. "Very funny."

They entered and saw Tor and Keza apparently enjoying a cup of ale. They went over and sat with them.

"Hey guys," Keza said. "Have a cup."

"No thanks," Thol said. "I like to keep my mind clear most of the time. How did the shopping trip go?"

"Excellent. We managed to find much better weapons and armor for all of us," Tor said.

"At a good price too," Keza said grinning.

Thol looked at him. "Okay. Now I don't want to know where you got them from," he said disgusted.

Tor laughed. "It's alright, Thol. He came by them cleanly. Keza is an unbelievable haggler."

"You're right. I don't believe it," Thol said, sarcastically.

Melira smiled slightly and shook her head.

"How was the trip to the magic shops?" Tor asked.

"They have shit all in this town for magic, but I expected as much. With a town this big, you'd think that they'd have some decent magic, but they don't," Thol said.

Just then, the last two of the Light Warriors entered the pub.

"How'd it go?" Keza asked.

"I was able to get all the supplies. Valon had good luck as well," Goro replied.

"Do tell."

"Well, the main talk around here is about a witch to the north," the white haired man said.

"A witch? That's ridiculous. There's no such thing as witchcraft," Thol said.

"Nevertheless, the townsfolk are convinced that there is a witch living in a cave to the north. They say that she turns anyone who nears her cave into toads and then makes soup out of them."

"Sounds like a typical small town ghost story to me," Thol commented.

"Maybe we should check it out anyway, Thol. If what they say is true, then she'll have to be dealt with," Tor said.

"All right. At least we have a sense of purpose now. What else did you find out?"

"There are rumors regarding the destruction of the bridge last week. It seems that some people are convinced that a band of pirates destroyed the bridge."

"Pirates?" Tor said. "What else did you find out about these pirates?"

"Nothing. I'm not even sure that the cause of the bridges destruction was pirates."

"Damn it," Tor said.

Thol's eyebrows went up. It wasn't often he swore. "Well there's nothing we can do about that. I guess when we are done investigating this witch rumor we should start working on reviving the orbs."

"That sounds. . ." Keza began.

A man burst through the door as he was saying this. He spotted them and rushed over. "Light Warriors! A man from Provoka has just stumbled into town! He says that the city has been taken over by pirates!"

"What? Take me to him!" Tor said, standing with such haste that he knocked over the chair he had been sitting in.

The six of them got up and followed the man to the inn where the Provokan was being cared for. Tor rushed forward when he saw who the man was.

"Meler!" Tor shouted, recognizing the sick man.  "What happened?" he asked.

"Tor! Is that you? It's been years. . ." the man said. He began coughing suddenly.

"Meler, you must tell me what happened," Tor begged.

"It was Bikke! He's not dead like everyone thought. He and his pack of dogs snuck into town late at night and killed the city guard. We all woke up to find ourselves in captivity of those sea rats!"

"Bikke," Tor said in a strange tone.

Thol recognized both the tone and the name. Bikke had killed Tor's brother in cold blood and he wanted revenge. He stepped forward and placed his hand on his friends shoulder. "Tor. As soon as we're done with the witch to the north, we'll get rid of Bikke once and for all."

Tor looked up at his friend with a serious look on his face and nodded. He turned back to his friend and asked. "How did you get here?"

"I managed to steal a small boat. I only had one ore and there were pirates following me everywhere, that's why I'm so damned sick.  I haven't eaten in days."

"You'll be safe here. We're leaving right away. I'm going to make Bikke pay for what he has done to both my brother and our home."

With that, Tor stood up and stalked out of the room. He was a man with a purpose and nothing was going to stop him.

"Come on. The bridge should be done enough now that we can cross. Let's follow him," Thol said.

The others nodded and followed Tor to the bridge. . . .

* * * *


	8. Chapter Eight: Wicked Witch of the North

Chapter Eight: Wicked Witch of the North

Thol had managed to convince Tor to wait until they had finished with the supposed 'witch' in the north cave before they charged on towards Provoka. Tor saw the redundancy in having to back track all the way back to where they were now if they went to Provoka first and agreed.

"We'll liberate Provoka then take a ship to Melmond. The Orb of Earth is supposed to be over there somewhere," he had said. He kept almost totally to himself after that.

It took them rest of the day and a good part of the next to finally get to the cave where the witch was supposed to live.

"What do you think, Goro? Does it look like anyone lives here?" Thol asked.

Goro was examining the entrance to the cave closely. He stood up and dusted off his hands. "Well," he began. "There is evidence of activity here, but there hasn't been anything recent."

"Can you tell when the last time there was someone here?" Keza asked.

"About a week to a week and a half ago. Well, Thol. Do we go in or not?"

Thol stood there for a moment, running the question through his head. "Yeah. I think we should go in just to be sure. Tor, do the others a favor and light a torch."

Tor wordlessly complied.

The cave wasn't as dark as the one that Thol and Tor had explored a week ago. There seemed to be a light source from somewhere, but none of them could figure out where.

Thol lead the way with Tor right behind him. They had been the cave for about ten minutes when Thol spotted a door in the wall. Not an open space like you'd normally see in a cave, but a human made door. "Head's up everybody. There's a door ahead. Our 'witch' could be through here."

Thol waited for the others to catch up before opening the door. He cautiously stepped through the doorway and looked around. He could plainly see that someone did indeed live there, though it didn't look like the sort of place a witch would live in. He couldn't see anyone so he called back to the others. "Coast is clear, folks. It doesn't look like there's anyone in here."

The others entered the room now and also looked around.

"Well, this is definitely the home of a woman," Melira commented.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Keza asked.

"You can tell by the way this place is decorated that a man doesn't live here," she replied simply.

"Are you tr. . ." Keza began to say.

"Forget it, Keza. She's right. A woman definitely lives here," Thol interjected.

The all heard something fall over on the far side of the room and quickly turned around. They had all expected to see a wizened old woman who was going to turn them into toads, but the person who stumbled into the room was most certainly not that.

"Who's there?" a frightened voice asked.

The 'witch' that everyone was afraid of was just a young girl about the same age as Thol. She didn't look dangerous at all.

Thol stepped toward her. Something about her was very familiar. He looked closely at her. "Matoya!" he said suddenly, making his companions jump slightly.

The young lady looked surprised by this. "Who- Th-Thol? Is that you?"

"Yes! Don't you recognize me?" he asked, stepping even closer to her. It was only when he was right in front her that he noticed that there was something wrong with her eyes. "Oh my. . . You're blind," he said. His heart wrenched at this revelation. He felt immense pity for her due to his own eyes.

"Yes. That's why I ran into. . . Well, what ever I just ran into," Matoya said.

"When did it happen?" he asked.

"About two years after you left the city. It happened so suddenly and no one knows why. Everyone thinks I was possessed or cursed and they started shunning me. Even my own parents didn't want me around. Oh Thol! Why did you leave me there all alone?" she said. She started crying and hugged Thol fiercely.

"I'm sorry. I left for the same reason you did. Our people aren't nice about abnormalities," Thol said, trying to comfort his old friend as best he could.

She managed to get a hold of herself in sort order and let her death grip on Thol loosen. She started to take a step forward and almost tripped. Thol steadied her and helped her around.

"There are others with you, aren't there?" she asked.

"Yes. They are my friends."

"I'm sorry," she said to them. "I should have introduced myself before hand. I am Matoya of Crescent Lake."

"Then you're a black mage then, not a witch," Valon stated.

"A witch? Where on earth did you get that ridiculous idea from? Witchcraft is just a silly old wives tale. Of course I'm a black magician," Matoya said.

"That's what I tried to tell them," Thol commented.

"I'd like to sit down, Thol, and I'm sure your friends would as well. Please take me to a seat."

Thol complied. The others followed them and pulled up chairs of their own.

Melira had noticed that Thol sat beside Matoya instead of her like he usually did. She found herself getting unreasonably upset about that, but she kept it to herself.

"Well, now that we are all comfortable, why don't you tell me who your friends are, Thol?" Matoya asked.

_We're not all comfortable_, Melira thought with a slight frown. _Where did that come from? I'm not jealous am I? That's ridiculous. . . Isn't it?_

"Well first there is Tor. He is my partner. I meet him a little while after leaving town," Thol began.

"So you're a friend of Thol's? I haven't had the privilege of meeting any of Thol's friends until now," Tor said.

"Poor Thol never had very many friends. As he said, our people are very discriminate when it comes to abnormalities," Matoya said. "It's nice to meet you though, Tor."

"As it is for me," Tor replied.

"Valon here is responsible for us all being here, on our journey that is. He is a scholar from Elfland."

"Thol speaks the truth. We are charged by the Prophecy of Lukahn. You are referred in it as the Blind One. It is good to finally meet you after all these years," Valon said.

"Lukahn? Did you talk to him?" she asked.

"No. I have never met him, unfortunately. I have only read what he has seen in his visions."

"Oh. . ." Matoya said, seemingly disappointed. Thol noticed but decided to ask her about it later.

"Well anyways, Goro is from Coneria. It's too bad you can't see him fight. He is amazing."

"Really?" Matoya asked.

"I'm afraid Thol exaggerates. I'm not nearly as good as he says," Goro said, modestly. He caught himself staring at the blind magician. Goro found her to be unbearably attractive and was being distracted by it.

"Is that so?" Matoya said. She could tell that he was being modest just from his voice and smiled slightly.

"Goro isn't one to brag about things, but I assure you he is very impressive with his fighting skills," Thol said.

Goro just looked embarrassed and said nothing.

"Who else is there, Thol?"

"Keza. He's a thief," Thol said, giving him his usual scowl as he said this.

"A thief?" Matoya said, her voice betraying that she was afraid of having a thief in her home.

"I assure you that he will not touch a single thing, will you Keza?" Thol said, casting a look at him that would make a dragon think twice.

"Of course not," Keza said, his voice weak.

"A-alright. I suppose I can live with that. Who is the last one?" Matoya said.

"Melira. She's a white mage," Thol said.

"A white mage?" Matoya said in a disgusted tone. "You brought one of those disillusioned hypocrites here?"

"What did you say?" Melira asked, her tone incredulous.

"A female no less. How do you stand her, Thol?" Matoya asked.

"I don't have to sit here and listen to this! I'm leaving!" Melira said. She got up and stormed out of the room.

"Melira!" Thol said. He stood up to go after her but was stopped by Matoya.

"Thol! Don't leave me hear with all these strangers!" she begged, clutching on to his arm with both hands.

Thol stopped and was torn between what to do. After a painful moment of decision, he turned to Goro. "Could you go find Melira and make sure she's okay?"

"Of course," Goro said. He left to go find her.

Thol sat down beside Matoya again. "I wish you wouldn't have done that. Melira isn't like the white mages from Crescent Lake. She isn't full of her own self importance like them."

"Are you telling me the truth, Thol?" Matoya said, doubtingly.

"Have I ever lied to you?"

"Well, no. . ." she said.

"Well I haven't started now."

"I don't know…  I've never met a white mage that wasn't like the ones back home," she said, uncertainty in her voice.

"Melira is from Coneria City.  The only reason she even became a white mage is because her parents run the clinic there.  I promise you she isn't like them," Tor said, aiding Thol in explaining to her the difference between Melira and the mages from Crescent Lake.

"I see…  I'm sorry, Thol.  I should have known that you'd never travel with one of those foolish mages.  I'll be sure and apologize to her the moment I get a chance.  I'm sorry," she said, apologizing again.

"That's alright. Melira is an understanding person. I've managed to seriously offend her many times already and she has forgiven me each time. I'm sure she'll do the same for you."

"I think we'll go take a walk and leave you two to catch up with each other," Keza said after a minute of silence between them all. The other two nodded and followed the thief out the door.

"Are we alone now?" Matoya asked.

"Yes. The others have left. Was there something you wanted to talk about?"

"Yes. Valon mentioned Lukahn. He gave me a special crystal just before I left our town that allowed me to see. He said that it would be very important later. I still don't know what he meant by that. Well anyway, I left home and eventually made my way here. I lived here ever since then. About a week ago, a funny old man came to see me and asked about my crystal. He said he was researching magical relics and wanted to see it. When I showed it to him, he took it from me and changed into a creature. He called himself Astos, the Dark Elf. He laughed at me and said that I would never see again and that I had no idea of the true purpose of the crystal. He left then with my crystal and. . ." She began to cry again. "For awhile I believed him that I would never see again, but then I heard your voice, Thol. I know you'll find my crystal for me and punish Astos for doing this to me. You will, won't you?"

"Of course," he said. His voice broke as he said this and he began to cry lightly himself.

"Thank you, Thol. You're always here when I need you." Matoya said to him.

There was something in her voice that Thol picked up on, but he didn't know what it meant. . . .

* * * *

Melira had gone all the way out of the cave without even knowing it. _The nerve of that woman! I can't believe she said those things to me! And Thol didn't even try to stop her!_ With the thought of Thol, she stopped her angry stomping about and sighed. _What is this?  I can't be jealous.  Thol's just a friend so that's not it. Of course, she is quite beautiful and he's been doting on her the whole time. Maybe he's in love with her_. That thought made her unbearably upset for some reason.

Goro found her like that, staring at her feet and wishing that they had never come to the cave. He stopped just behind her and spoke quietly. "Are you alright?"

She turned to look at him. "Yeah. I'm fine now.  Where's Thol?" she said, not really knowing why she asked.

"He stayed back in the cave with Matoya," Goro said. He mentally kicked himself just as he finished saying it. He knew that was the last thing that she wanted to hear.

"I see," she said in a dejected tone, turning away from him.  A thousand thoughts seemed to bombard her then, none of which she could make sense of.  Most of those thoughts centered on Thol and herself and a few of them also revolving around Matoya.  Shaking her head in confusion, she felt he eyes begin to tear up as the unknown sadness became too much for her.  "I…" she began to say, but she had no words to explain how she felt.

Goro embraced his friend to try and comfort her.  He was aware of the girls growing feelings for their companion and wasn't really surprised to see that she didn't know of them herself.

Melira silently embraced the large man back, not really knowing why he offered his support, but thinking that she really needed some right now.  After a few moments, she finally spoke.

"I don't understand any of this," she said quietly.

"I think you do understand but you're not willing to accept it right now.  If you take some time to think it over, I'm sure you'll come to understand it.  Then you'll be able to tell him."

She broke away from him at that.  "Wait a minute.  If you're trying to say that I have feelings for Thol then you're wrong.  We're just friends," she said.  "Besides," she added, almost sadly, "It's plainly obvious that he's in love with Matoya."

Goro let a small smile grace his lips.  He words confirmed that he had been correct about his insight despite her absolute denial. _After all, I never actually said I was referring to Thol_, he thought.

"I wouldn't say that exactly.  He's concerned about her of course.  She's gone through the exact same thing he has so it's only natural that'd he want to comfort her as much as possible, especially since she's an old friend.  I've noticed that Thol is very concerned when it comes to his friends."

"Oh?  Then why didn't he come after me instead of you then?"

"Would you leave an old friend who can't see a thing in a cave full of strangers she knows nothing of save their names?" Goro replied simply.

Melira didn't know what to say to that.

"If he didn't care he wouldn't have sent anyone at all."

"I still don't know why we are having this conversation.  Thol and I are friends, nothing more," she said again, this time with less conviction.

They both stood in silence for a few seconds before Goro spoke again.

"Just take some time to think about it.  Not too long though.  Things like this tend to spiral out of hand if left unattended.  Shall we go back in now?" he asked.

Melira was about to protest again, but let it drop and relied with, "Yeah alright.  Let's go."

Goro turned with another slight smile on his face, Melira only two steps behind him as he entered the cave again. . . .

* * * *

Thol had summoned the other three back in and was waiting for Melira to get back. He had begun to pace nervously. _Oh dear. . . Where is she? She isn't that mad at Matoya, is she? Or is she mad at me? Maybe she hates me and has gone back to Coneria_, he thought. _Damn it! I should have gone after her myself. Melira, I'm sorry_. . .

When she finally did return with Goro a few seconds behind her, Thol almost leapt over the furniture to get to her. "Melira! Thank goodness you're back. I'm sorry about what she said to you. The white mages at Crescent Lake are rather conceited, especially the females. She didn't know you were from Coneria. She's really very sorry about what she said."

"That's alright, Thol. As long as she knows she was mistaken," she said. She cast a quick glance over at Goro. "Um. . . Thol," she said.

"What is it?"

"I. . . Um. . . Uh, never mind. It's not important," she said.  She wasn't even sure what she was going to say at the moment.  She needed more time to think.

"Oh. . . Okay then," Thol replied, a little disappointed. He hid his disappointment by addressing the others to Matoya's request. He told them of the crystal that gave he sight and of the stealing of it by the dark elf.

"The world truly has become corrupted," Goro commented, a frown on his face. "I was not aware of it while living at the temple with my master."

"We will find her crystal and make sure this Astos is brought to justice," Tor said.

"Right," said Thol. "We'll stop at Elfland on our way to Melmond. I'm sure if anyone knows about the dark elf, it will be them."

"Astos," Valon said.

"Do you know of him?" Thol asked, remembering that the red mage hailed from Elfland himself.

"The name does ring a bell, but I'm not sure where I've heard it before. I've been working almost exclusively on deciphering Lukahn's Prophecy. I'll ask around when we get there."

"Right, which leads us to our next problem," Thol said.

"Provoka," Tor said gravely.

"We'll leave at first light tomorrow. If we hurry, we can be there in about two and a half days. What do you think, Goro?" Thol asked.

Goro calculated the distance mentally. "Yes. I think that is about right. Have you been to Provoka before, Thol?"

"Once, a long time ago before I met Tor though, so I'm a little foggy about the terrain between here and there."

"Right. Don't worry about it, Thol. I know the way," Tor said.

"Good. I guess we can all rest until tomorrow then," Thol said.

Just as he finished saying that, Matoya entered the room. Thol was right beside her in an instant, guiding her through the room. She walked up to Melira with Thol's help and gazed blindly at her. "I hope Thol told you about the white mages in Crescent Lake. Either way, I'm sorry for what I said about you."

"That's alright. Thol did tell me too, you don't have to worry about that," Melira said.

"Thol, I'm tired. Would you take me to my room? I'm sorry everybody, but I'm exhausted from stumbling around for a week," Matoya said.

"I'm going to go outside for some fresh air," Melira said.

Thol watched her leave and wished that he could go with her, but he had to lead Matoya to her room. Goro stepped up to them suddenly. "It's alright, Thol. You go with Melira. I'll take Matoya to her room."

Thol blinked suddenly. "Do you mind, Matoya?" he asked.

"No. Of course not. Go get your white mage, Thol. I'm sure Goro will see me safely to my room."

"Thanks," he said to both of them. He let go of Matoya and rushed off after Melira.

Matoya sighed as she heard him leave and let Goro lead her through the cave.

"Something wrong?" Goro asked.

"Oh, it's nothing. I wouldn't want to bore you with my problems," she said.

"You wouldn't bore me, don't worry about that. It's not good to keep things bottled up inside you."

Matoya sighed again. "To tell you the truth, it's about Thol," she said. She paused and Goro could see the look of sadness on her face. "I was so happy when I heard his voice today. I thought that I. . ." she said, trailing off.  "But I could tell by the tone of his voice that there's something about that white mage that has him trapped."

"And you're in love with him, aren't you?"

"Yes. I can't remember not being in love with him. I hoped that I could finally tell him, but there's no hope now," she said. Tears started rolling down her face as she said this.

"Hey now. There's no need to get so upset with it. There are other people in the world other than Thol," Goro said, trying to console the weeping girl he was leading through the cave.

"You don't understand. Thol is the only who does. No body wants an evil witch who can't see and turns people into frogs," she said bitterly.

"That's absurd. You're a very attractive girl and I know that there are people out there who will look past whatever false reputation you have and see you for who you really are."

"Like who, Goro? The world is far too cruel for that to ever happen," she said. She forced herself away from him and leaned against the nearest wall. "There's no hope," she said in a quiet voice. "I'll be alone forever now."

He stepped forward and put a hand on her shoulder. "Matoya."

She turned toward him. Something in his tone had caught her attention.

"I am on of those people," he said quietly.

"What are you saying?"

"I'm saying that I've never met anyone as beautiful as you before. If you'll accept me, after we have revived the orbs, I'll stay with you and neither of us will ever have to be alone again."

She stood there speechless. She never in her wildest dreams expected him to say that to her.

"You see, I grew up in a small hut near the Temple of Fiends. The townspeople never truly accepted me into their community when I finally decided to leave the hut. I know only too well what it means to be alone." He stopped then to let her take that all in.

After what seemed like an eternity, she finally spoke. "You would do that for me? Would you really?" she asked, afraid that he would take what he said back.

"Yes. Yes I would."

She smiled at him then. "Take me to my room, Goro. I'm very tired. I'm sure I'll dream of the day I finally get to see your face."

Goro dutifully lead the young magician to her room where she indeed did dream of that day. . . .

* * * *

            Melira sat with her back against a rock gazing up at the full moon sitting in the night sky like a second sun.  Her thoughts dwelt on Thol and exactly what he meant to her.  She could deny it all she liked, but the fact was that she had been jealous of Matoya, maybe even still a bit.  That obviously meant that he was more to her then just a friend.

            So engrossed she was in her own thoughts that she failed to notice the wolf until it was right in front of her.  Only its sudden low growl alerted her to its presence.

            She stood with an alarmed intake of breath, cursing herself for leaving her staff back in the cave.  She cautiously backed away toward the mouth of the cave hoping to be able to make a break for it.

            The night sky was suddenly illuminated by a bright flash of lightning that struck the ground just in front of the wolf.  It yelped in fear and took off back into the forest just to the south of the cave.

            "Bah!  It stopped moving at the last second.  The thing should be a smoking pile of meat right now," said a voice from behind her.

            She turned to see Thol standing just outside the mouth of the cave not ten meters away from her.

            "Thol!" she said, closing the distance between them in seconds.  She flung her arms around him and clung to him almost in desperation.

            "You alright?" he asked gently.

            "Yes.  Thanks to you.  You got here just in time," she replied.  He heart was beating fast and she wasn't sure if it was just because of the wolf.

            "Can't let you out of my sight for a minute, can I?" he joked, trying to ignore the effect that her closeness was having on him.

            She smiled to herself, realizing that Goro had been right.  She did know what she was feeling and wasn't ready to admit it, but she couldn't deny it any longer.  Thol meant more to her then just a friend.  She just hoped that he felt the same way. . . .

* * * *


	9. Chapter Nine: Provoka Under Seige

Chapter Nine: Provoka Under Siege

They left at first light just as Thol had said they would. He had noticed that Matoya had been acting a little strangely, but she also seemed to be relying on Goro to lead her around so he was able to spend more time with Melira. In that respect, he wasn't complaining. Melira had also been acting rather strangely since she stormed out of the cave the day before. He didn't have an answer for that one and he wasn't about to ask.

The road to Provoka from Coneria had fallen in to disrepair since the bridge had been destroyed, but traveling down it was still easier than trying to find your way through the forest. The way to Provoka took them two days to travel and it was getting close to dark when they finally arrived.

"Okay, Tor. This is your town so tell us, what is the easiest way to get in?" Thol asked as they looked down upon the village from atop a hill.

"Well usually I'd say slip around and get in through the docks, but seeing as though the town is being held up by pirates, that isn't such a good idea," Tor replied. He thought for a moment. "I think, due to the current situation, the best way into the city would be through the tunnels under the brothel."

"And how would you know of these tunnels, Tor?" Thol asked in a slightly amused voice.

His friend suddenly went red and got very uncomfortable. "It's not what you think, Thol. My brother and I were hired by a certain local businessman who liked to frequent the place. He needed to make sure he was undisturbed, but the building has escape routes like the tunnels just in case. If word got out that someone like him was going to a place like that, his business would be ruined."

"Sure, sure," Thol said, grinning.

Somehow, Tor managed to get even redder.

"Thol's just kidding, Tor. Weren't you?" Melira said.

"Of course I was," Thol replied, still with a grin plastered on his face.

"Thol," Melira said.

"All right, all right. I'm sorry."

They decided to wait until nightfall before attempting to enter the city. Due to the late hour, they weren't waiting long.

Tor led them around to the entrance to the brothel tunnels. They were carefully concealed so that you wouldn't even notice them unless you were looking for them.

It was obvious that Tor hadn't been in the tunnels for a while as he had to stop at every fork and think of the way. Despite his hesitant decisions, he managed to get them to the brothel without leading them astray. There was a rather filthy looking man at the end of the tunnel that 'greeted' them.

"Tor! Holy crap! Do you have any idea what's going on in the city? This place is crawling with pirates! You picked a really bad time to come back to town," the man said.

"Rall. I've come back to the town to free it from its captors and bring that scourge Bikke to justice once and for all."

The man, Rall, nodded fiercely. "You know, if you had stayed here, this wouldn't have happened."

"No time for that now. Where is Bikke holing up?"

Rall hesitated for a moment. "I hate to tell you this, Tor, but he's taken over your home."

Thol imagined that it took all of Tor's willpower not to explode and seek out the marauding pirate right that instant. He managed instead to contain his anger to a grim mask of determination.

"He's finished," Tor said between clenched teeth. "Bikke and his pirates will not live to see another sunrise." That being said, Tor headed through the brothel and exited the building. The others followed him immediately.

Directly outside the brothel, Tor gave them a quick run down of the house and surrounding property. Thol thought through the information he was given and made a decision based on it.

"Right. We'll wait until we get closer to the building before we make any solid decisions here. I want to see how well they have the thing guarded. Is there any place nearby there that we can observe it from and not be seen?"

Tor thought for a moment. "Well, the inn across the street has a backdoor and we should be able get on the roof and not be seen."

"Excellent. Tor, Keza and I will go up on the roof and see what we can see. We'll devise a plan and get cracking at it. The rest of you will stay in the inn," Thol said.

"What do you need me for? Goro would be much better at formulating a plan then me," Keza asked.

"Maybe so, but that's not why I want you up there with us," Thol explained. "As I've said on countless occasions, you are a thief, right?"

Keza nodded.

"Well who better then a thief for getting in a place undetected?"

Keza looked thoughtful for a moment and then grinned widely. "Why didn't I think of that?"

"Because I thought of it first, that's why. Now let's get going before it gets too late. After all, we don't want Bikke to see the sunrise."

Tor led the other five to the backdoor of the inn. After he quickly explained the situation to the innkeeper, he made his way to the roof with Thol and Keza right behind him.

"Keep low. You never know when one of those idiots will decide to look up," Thol said just as they got on the roof.

The three of them crouched down and edged as close as they could toward Tor's old house. Thol looked at the pirates guarding the place and almost laughed aloud. Keza took one look at the house and the position of the guards and immediately figured out the best way in.

"Over there," he said pointing. "The guards there aren't patrolling with much zest and it's a fairly isolated area. That would be the best way to get onto the compound."

"Can we get in from there?" Thol asked.

"Yeah. There's and old utility door on that side that leads to the basement. It was boarded up last I checked but it wouldn't take much to fix that."

"Good," Thol said. He glanced briefly at the surrounding area. After several moments of thought, he had their entry plan. "Alright. Let's go back inside. I've got a plan worked out."

The others were anxious to hear about what they seen.

"Well? Can we get in?" Valon asked.

"Yes, but we're going to have to take out a couple of guards. Here's what we're going to do," Thol began. "We're going to leave this inn through the back, same as we came in. Then we're going to circle around to the east side of the compound. There are a lot of buildings on that side that will conceal our approach. The garden on that side of the building will keep us mostly concealed from the other patrols. When we get to the garden, you two," he said, pointing at Melira and Valon, "will cast fog so that the guards can't see. The rest of us will incapacitate the guards and we'll slip in from there."

"Why fog? I can cast sleep on them all and then we wouldn't have to do any fighting," Valon said.

"It would be quieter, Thol," Goro said.

"Yes, but sleep is an unpredictable spell and is too chancy. Besides, we're here to get rid of these criminals, not baby them," Thol said.

Valon shrugged in agreement.

"Any questions so far?" Thol asked.

"What do we do if we run into more pirates on the inside?" Keza asked.

"You mean 'when we run into more pirates'. After we're actually inside the building, the need for stealth is largely un-needed, but we'll try to avoid as many encounters as we can. In the event that we do run into them, then we'll cut them down as fast as we can. Our main target is Bikke. The rest will fall in short order after he is out of the way. Anything else?"

They were all quiet.

"Good. Let's move then," Thol said. "Tor, you take the lead. If there are any archers in there, your armor will protect you from the arrows, but I doubt there will be any. Pirates aren't known for their archery prowess."

"Better safe than sorry I always say," Keza commented.

"Of course you do. You're a thief," Thol pointed out.

After they had exited the building, they were all silent. Getting into the building unnoticed was almost as important as actually killing Bikke and they all knew it.

They reached the garden and were undetected thus far just as Thol had planned. A quick nod told the other two mages to cast their fog spells. There was a short series of confused cries as the garden filled with a thick fog that only the six Light Warriors could see through. The cries only lasted for a moment as their owners were quickly disposed of.

The magical fog lifted just as quick as it had spread and the six of them easily found the utility door Tor had mentioned. The boards were old and half-rotten so they were inside in less than a minute.

The house itself was quite large and under normal circumstances would be a nice place to live in, but the residence of the pirates had changed that. Tor again managed to keep his ever-increasing anger in check. He led them through the passages of the house wordlessly.

As Thol had said, they eventually ran into more pirates, but they still managed to get the drop on them and they were disposed of in short order.

Thol glanced at Melira after the encounter and noticed that she was rather pale. "Are you alright?" he asked.

"I-I'm fine. It's just that. . ." she began, but was unable to continue.

"I know," he said. "I understand. I'm sorry we brought you into this."

"No, it's alright.  It's just that I didn't think I'd be fighting other people when I offered to join you all.  Well, except Garland."

Thol nodded.  He understood what she was saying though he did not feel the same way about it.  _She should be healing people, not destroying them_, he thought as he followed their point man.

Tor led them up a royal looking staircase. He seemed to know exactly where Bikke would be.

They ran into more pirates just outside a huge set of ornate double doors. They didn't have the advantage of surprise this time so the battle took a little longer then the last. Thol took a minor flesh wound in the battle but he just shrugged it off and continued to bombard the pirate horde with magic.

"He's in there," Tor said with acid dripping from his words. He cast aside the huge double doors with one vicious sweep of his arm.

Thol suspected that the commotion of the battle had alerted those inside to their approach and that they would be ready for them. What they weren't ready for, however, was Tor's titanic rage. He managed to kill four of them single handed before the others even made it into the room.

Thol recognized Bikke immediately from Tor's description of him. Tor was headed directly for the pirate captain and no one was able to stand in his way. Thol decided that the other pirates would be an unneeded distraction in the upcoming confrontation, so he eliminated them at once with a violent inferno of magic.

The other's stood in awe of Thol's power even though they had all seen him cast the spell before. Last time, however, they were busy fighting with Garland and didn't have the time to fully appreciate the magnitude of the spell.

They eventually shook off their amazement and started toward Bikke. Thol quickly waved them off. This battle would be between Tor and Bikke only.

Bikke stood up to meet Tor as he strode across the corpse-filled room.

"So, whelp, you have returned to the scene of your greatest failure," Bikke said as Tor stopped only a meter away from him.

"It might have been my greatest failure, but it was your greatest mistake to come back to this city."

The pirate's eyes narrowed at his proclamation.

Tor stood up perfectly straight now and spoke in a loud, clear voice. "Anos Bikke, Captain of the vessel Sea Scourge. I, Sir Tor Zakon, Knight of crowned princess Sara of Coneria and retainer of Provoka hereby avenge the murder of my kinsman, my brother, Madon Zakon, and sentence you do death via trial by sword. Justice will be served this day."

Bikke snarled and drew his saber. "Your colorful words won't change the fact that you're going to follow in the footsteps of your brother and be killed by my blade!"

Tor brought his gauntlet up to block the first attack and drew his sword at the same time. In a matter of seconds, it was clear that Bikke stood no chance with only a flimsy pirate saber.

The pirate made several desperate sword thrusts and one of them managed to get by Tor's guard, but his armor was more then a match for the thin bladed weapon and the thrust bounced harmlessly off the plated surface.

In a last ditch effort, Bikke ran at Tor with his sword held high intending to plunge it down on his head. Tor sidestepped the clumsy move and made a turning slash that caught Bikke directly in the ribs. Bikke unceremoniously crashed to the ground, it all ending in that instant.

Tor stood breathing heavy for a few moments, looking down on the fallen form of his opponent. _Bother, you have been avenged_, he thought in silent tribute to his brother.

Thol walked up beside his friend and looked him in the eye. Words were unnecessary. Thol simply nodded and Tor nodded back.

Tor sheathed his weapon and turned to the others. "Thank you my friends. I would not have made it all the way without you all."

After a moment of silence, Keza finally spoke. "So it's over now."

"No," Thol said.

The others looked at him.

"The city is still infested with pirates. We have to clear them out of here. Then we have to take care of the Sea Scourge. Only then will it be over."

"Right. Come! Let's finish this now!" Tor yelled. He drew his sword and headed for the doors. The others followed instilled by the courage of the young knight.

It took them twenty minutes to rid the residence of all the pirates. They then strode out the front gate and walked directly into town, mercilessly killing any pirate they saw. The citizens cheered as Tor and the others passed by. The remainder of the pirates that were in the city had all been backed into a corner and had tried to rally their defenses for one last stand. It was in vain as Thol gave them another display of his incredible powers by freezing the entire alleyway in which they were holed up in. That left the source of the plague of pirates. The Sea Scourge.

The six Light Warriors all had determined faces as they walked up the unprotected gangplank. The first of the pirates to notice that there were intruders on board didn't live long enough to even draw their weapons.

They methodically went through the ship eliminating the pirates until they had reached the hold. The last of the pirates were there and seemed to be led by a man who didn't look anything like a pirate.

Tor's eyes widened at the sight of the man. "Tynceder! What are you doing here?"

The man looked up and growled. "You meddling fool! If it wasn't for you and the others I could have owned this pathetic town! But I needed Bikke and his pirates for that, and you ruined it!"

"What are you saying? Are you behind this invasion? Why, Tynceder? Why? We were like brothers! How could you do this to Provoka, our home?" Tor said in a stricken voice.

"Idiot! Of course I'm behind this! I've been leading these pirates for their entire pathetic existence!"

"No! Then it was you who ordered. . ." Tor started to say, but his voice broke. He couldn't accept that a man whom he had thought was his friend had ordered his brother killed.

"That's right, Tor! I had your brother killed! He was standing in the way of my plans. I had you ordered to be killed as well, but Bikke's stupid pirates couldn't do it."

It dawned on Keza then. Tynceder was the third one who had finished their training under Zakon. Tor had never got around to telling him about the third one when they were talking about it in Coneria.

Goro stepped forward then. "I don't know who you are, but if what you say you have done is true, then your actions are inexcusable and you must be brought to justice."

Tynceder laughed at him. "And just who is going to do that? You? Fool! You aren't even armed! I'd kill you in the blink of an eye."

"We'll see. Prepare yourself, criminal," Goro said.

Laughing, Tynceder drew his weapon: An exact copy of Tor's sword. The Zakonian warrior made the first attack, one that he had thought was going to be a killing blow, but Goro expertly dodged the move and countered with a blinding combination of punches and kicks. Tynceder was knocked down and completely winded from the attack. He also thought that he might have a cracked rib from the fall. The Zakonian got up and more wearily attacked again.

Try as he might, Tynceder could not hit the martial artist. Goro was inflicting punishing blows in retaliation to every more he made and he was soon bleeding from the mouth, evidence of internal bleeding.

"Yield!" Goro shouted.

Tynceder spit out a mouthful of blood. "Never! I'll die before I allow myself to be taken by one such as you!"

"If that is how you feel then so be it," Goro replied. Not having a reason to hold back now, he prepared for his next attack to be without restraint.

The Zakonian made his last attack, a downward slash that was probably the beginning of a cross-slash maneuver. Goro evaded the attack and struck him directly in the chest with both fists. There was an audible crack from the impact and Tynceder stumbled backward. A roundhouse kick sent him spinning and Goro finished him off with a fatal knife hand strike to the throat.

"You were a fool. You should have given up," Goro said quietly to the now dead Tynceder.

The remaining pirates that had stood, statue like, in fear throughout the battle threw down their weapons and gave themselves up. Keza and Valon lead them off the ship and to the local authorities.

Tor stood looking at his former friend with an agonized look on his face. Thol and Goro stepped in beside him and looked down as well.

"He deserved it, Tor. You know he did," Thol said.

"But I don't understand why he did it. I knew him for years. He was never the ambitious type. And to kill my brother. . . Madon was as much a brother to him as he was to me."

"So he was one of Zakon's students to then?" Goro asked.

"Yes. The three of us were the last one's to finish our training before Zakon passed away. I'm the only one left. His last student."

"Then you'd better live through this so that you can pass on his knowledge. It's the least you can do," Thol said. He stood there for a moment then walked off to where Melira was. Goro left a few moments later and Tor stood by himself.

_He's right. I have to pass on what Zakon has taught me_. He turned to face his comrades and walked to the door. He paused and turned around in the doorframe. "We have won. Come. Let's celebrate our victory and all of our future victories as we fulfill our destiny!" he shouted.

The others replied with their own shouts. . . .

* * * *

They stayed in Provoka for a week and were treated to a celebration almost as extravagant as the one they received in Coneria. The townspeople fixed up the Sea Scourge to a more respectable vessel and renamed it The Zakonian. As a way of thanking them, the townspeople gave it to the Light Warriors so that they could get to Melmond and revive the Earth Orb.

Some of the townspeople who's homes were ruined during the siege volunteered to man the ship for them so with Tor as the captain, The Zakonian set out for Melmond.

Thol walked up to where Tor was steering the ship. "You do remember that we're supposed to stop at Elfland to check on this Astos character, right?"

Tor cringed. "I'd completely forgotten about that. Sorry," he said. Without warning, he made a near 90 degree turn and headed off on a different course.

Thol stood clutching the railing for dear life. "Are you sure that turning like that is all safe?"

"Probably not, but I do it anyway," his friend replied calmly.

"I'm going back down below. At least I won't get thrown overboard if you decide to make any sudden changes in direction again."

Tor just nodded.

Thol walked away from him muttering about curses under his breath. He went down into the ship where the others were, still cursing.

"What's happening up there?" Valon asked as he saw him. He was busy picking up an assortment of scrolls that had been obviously thrown to the floor when Tor made his sudden turn.

"Tor. The idiot decided to change directions suddenly and not tell anyone. I thought that I'd come down here to avoid being thrown overboard."

"Wise decision," Keza commented from where he sat, drinking some sort of drink.

Without even thinking of what he was doing, Thol sat across from Melira. "Where's Goro?" he asked, noticing that the large man was missing.

"I'm afraid our friend isn't made for sea travel. Right now he's meditating in the center of the ship somewhere trying to keep down his last meal," Keza replied.

"Is it working?"

"Let's just say he wasn't ready for the first bout of sickness. He's been doing pretty good so far though," Keza said. He paused for a second looking thoughtful. "Of course that's probably because he hasn't anything left to bring up."

"Poor Goro," Melira said.

"Don't you have some kind of spell you could cast on him?" Thol asked.

"If there is one, I don't know it." She looked down as if ashamed of herself. "My list of spells is rather limited of course."

"Don't worry. We can get you some new ones in Elfland. It's the world's second largest center of magic after all," Valon assured her.

"And at least they aren't all puffed up with their own importance," Thol said, almost to himself.

Melira heard him but said nothing. She knew what he was talking about due to the incident with Matoya.

The room was quiet for a few moments. Thol leaned his head back against the wall and put his legs up on a spare chair. He was still a little worn out from casting so many high level spells in the battle for Provoka.

"How long until we get there?" Keza asked.

"I've never been to Elfland myself," Thol said. "Valon could probably give you a better idea."

Keza looked over at the red mage.

"Well it took me about five days to cross the sea, but the ship I was on wasn't going all that fast. With Tor steering this thing, I'd say we'll be out here for only two or three days."

Keza nodded. "Swell."

They were all quiet for a moment.

"So," Keza said after a moment. "Any one care for a game of dice?"

"With or without the customary betting of gil?" Thol asked.

"With of course."

"Are you sure you want to play? Nobody is stupid enough to play for money against a thief," Thol said.

"Without then?"

"Forget it. You're still going to cheat."

"Tsk. Fine," Keza said, sitting back down where he was.

Another few moments of silence passed.

"Well, how 'bout a game of cards then?" Keza asked.

Thol groaned. . . .

* * * *


	10. Chapter Ten: The Strange King

Chapter Ten: The Strange King

Thol stomped off the ship cursing up a storm. Keza had done nothing but annoy him for the entire trip and he was about ready to fry him with his most powerful spell. Melira giggled at him as she followed him off.

Thol turned to her. "What's so funny?" he asking in a slightly annoyed voice.

"Oh, Thol. You take everything too seriously. Keza was just trying to lighten the boredom a bit, that's all."

"Well he could have done that without pestering me the entire time."

Tor and Keza were discussing their next visit to the shops when Goro finally stumbled off the ship.

"I'm glad that's over with. I don't know if I could have taken much more of that," he said.

"I'm sure that the elves can whip you up something for that," Thol said.

Valon was the last to get off the boat. He immediately went up to the others and told them about the general area.

"A half day's walk to the city you say. Why so far?" Goro asked.

"When Elfland was originally built, they had no need for a port so they built it further inland. Later when the population began to put stress on the economy, the then prince ordered the two ports to be built. The southern one isn't used as much anymore. The only cities that dock there are Crescent Lake and Melmond."

"Well I can tell you myself that Crescent Lake doesn't see trade as a major benefit," Thol said.

"Melmond was still interested in trade the last time I was there. What happened?" Keza asked.

"We don't know. They just stopped coming all of a sudden. We haven't been able to get in contact with them at all. We've even sent scout ships but none have returned," Valon said.

Keza looked worried by that. Tor noticed and spoke up.

"Something wrong?"

"I'm from Melmond. I wasn't exactly treated well there, but it's still my hometown."

"We can go right now and take care of Astos later if you'd like," Thol said.

Keza shock his head. "No. We promised Matoya that we'd get her crystal back from Astos first. We can look into Melmond afterwards, as we planned."

"Alright. If you don't mind," Thol said.

They set off without stopping at the shops. Keza assured them that they would find more high quality items in the shops at Elfland City. They had been walking for a little over an hour when Valon suddenly had a revelation.

"That's it!" he yelled, startling the others.

"What are you talking about?" Thol asked.

"The Dark Elf, Astos. I remember where I've heard of him. He appeared suddenly twenty-five years ago and attacked the palace. He put the prince to sleep and has been harassing the kingdom."

"And you forgot this? If someone put my king to sleep, I think I'd remember," Thol said.

"Thol, the king has been asleep since I was a baby.  It's not something people talk about every day here.  I'm pretty sure Astos is the one the prophecy refers to as The Dark King. That title has always had me a little worried," Valon said.

"Worried? Why so?" Goro asked.

"It could very well mean that Astos will usurp the throne and rule Elfland, that's why."

Goro nodded his acceptance at that.

"Well see what the townspeople think before we make any decisions on how to proceed," Thol said.

The rest of their journey to the city of elves was uneventful other then the occasional skirmish with the local monsters.

"Well," Tor said as they walked into the town. "Shall we all split up again?"

"For once, Tor, I think that's a good idea you have. Let's do it," Thol said.

"Elfland doesn't have a pub, so we should meet at the inn instead," Valon commented before everyone left, and then he too went off. . . .

* * * *

Thol was flipping through a spell book for a spell he didn't know. I was similar to one that he already knew, just more effective. _If you can call Sleep an effective spell_, he thought to himself.

"Thol! Look at all the spells they have here!" Melira exclaimed from across the room in the white magic section.

He looked up from the book, saw the look of childish enthusiasm on her face and grinned. "Aren't you getting a little over excited about all this? The magic here isn't that good."

"But Thol, there's so many of them! I haven't even heard of half of these spells!"

He decided to go over beside her so he grabbed the stack of books that he though he would need. She was paging through a book herself when he got over to her. He tried to read what was on the page, but it made him dizzy. "How do you understand all that gibberish?" he asked.

"It's not gibberish. It makes perfect sense, which is more then I can say for your books of nonsense you have there," she said, motioning to the books Thol had selected.

"Watch what you're calling nonsense, young lady. I seem to remember a certain horde of pirates that were turned into ash in seconds somewhere in the past."

"I'm sure the others could have handled them."

"Oh sure.  Maybe if we gave them all day and tied the pirates' legs together.  Besides, my way is much more impressive."

"Of course, Thol. We're all just so impressed by how you toast everything in seconds," she said with a little grin.

"Was that sarcasm I detected?" Thol asked.

"Would I do that?" she asked, her grin getting wider.

"Oh, I'm going to get you for that."

"Sure you will, now help me with all these books."

"You're lucky this time," he said, picking up a pile of them.

She just giggled and picked up a pile herself.

When they had everything paid for, they headed for the inn. On their way there, they noticed a gathering of people. "Wonder what's going on here?" Thol said to no one in particular.

"Why don't we go find out?" Melira suggested.

Thol shrugged and changed directions. He walked up to a booth of sorts and spoke to the elf behind the counter. "Excuse me, but could you possibly tell us what is going on?"

"Our annual archery contest. It's a national contest. Would you care to join?" the elf said.

"Archery, eh? Sure why not?" Thol said. "What's the prize for winning, if I may ask?"

"A rather expensive pendant that aids in the casting of magic. They are very rare I'm told."

Thol reached inside his robes. "Does it happen to look like this by any chance?" he asked, holding up a pendant.

The elf looked at it and his eyes went wide. "Why yes, that's exactly what it looks like. Where did you get it?"

"It was a gift from the Circle of Sages at Crescent Lake," Thol said. There was a small crowd that had formed behind him as he was talking with the elf and they were listening in. Some of them who recognized the Circle were impressed. "Tsk. Shame really. I guess I don't really need another, so I guess there's no need for me to enter. Thanks anyway."

He had begun to turn when a voice spoke up from the crowd behind him. "You seem pretty sure you'll win," said an elven archer.

Thol turned to look at him. "I am fairly confident on that fact," he said.

"Ha! You'll be lucky if you make it passed the first round! No human has ever come close to winning this tournament. Besides, you'd have to beat me first and no one has ever beaten me," the elf said.

"You're an arrogant little fellow. Just who are you?" Thol asked, annoyed by his attitude.

"I am Runarel, thirteen year consecutive champion of the tournament. And what is your name, human?"

"Thollatos. One of the Light Warriors. Perhaps you've heard of us," Thol said.

There was a sudden rush of whispered voices at his claim.

"Light Warrior? Ha! Don't make me laugh. The Light Warriors are a myth. Even so, if you were one then you'd take up the challenge."

"I think I may at that. Your arrogance has fouled the air and I think it would be rather refreshing to breath in the air of victory. You're on," Thol said.

After registering and getting a little practice with the bow he was given, Thol stood to watch his opponent. Runarel was indeed quite gifted, as Thol thought he would be, but then he had to be to win thirteen years in a row. The contest began in short order and Runarel went first. His arrow was right on target as Thol expected. The crowd cheered for him as he made his way from the line.

Thol's turn didn't come for quite awhile after that. He was a late entry so he had to wait. When it was his turn, he did fairly well, though not as good as his opponent. It was enough to get him to the next round though, so he really didn't care.

In the end, much to everyone's surprise, it came down to just the two of them. Thol had increased in skill with each round and by now was almost as competent an archer as his opponent.  They walked up to each other and stood there for a moment.

"Hmph," the elf said. "You're better then you look, but you're still not going to beat me."

"Is that so? Well I'm not one to be rude so champions first," Thol replied.

Runarel sniffed and began to take aim.

Melira, who had been watching the whole thing and nearly bursting with excitement, noticed a particular surge of energy just as the elf let the arrow fly.

At the same instant the arrow hit the target, a bolt of lightning smashed it into pieces.

"My, my. Mighty strange weather you have around here," Thol said. "Care to shoot again, chap?"

Melira giggled. She knew it was Thol who did it while the other elves were looking at the sky wondering how it had happened.  Obviously, most of them didn't know what a mage looked like.

The elf growled and shot again. His aim was perfect and no mysterious bolts of lightning shattered the target this time.

"Very good. Now watch and learn," Thol said, aiming his own arrow.

Again, Melira felt a surge of energy. There was no bolt of lightning however. Instead, Thol's arrow went right through the target and nearly cracked a boulder in half right behind it. Runarel's arrow was blasted to nothingness from the impact.

"Oh dear, it seems I put a little too much elbow grease into that one.  Oh well," Thol said, filled with mirth.

The elf stood staring at the quivering arrow sticking half out of the rock with a confounded look on his face.

Thol walked up to him and patted him on the cheek. "There, there old boy. There's always next year." With that said, he whirled around and strode away from the line. The crowd cheered for him as he walked over to claim his prize. The elf at the booth announced him as the winner and awarded him the pendant. Thol took it, bowed quickly and then made his way from the throng of people.

Melira was quick to follow him. She was smiling at him as she watched him.

Thol looked at her. "What?" he asked, noticing that she was staring at him.

"You were great, Thol!  Where did you learn how to do that?"

"One of my many hobbies from my childhood actually," he replied. He looked at his prize with resignation. _I really don't need another one of these_, he thought. He made a magnificent idea then. "Here," he said, holding the pendant out to her.

Melira's eyes lit up. "Thol, I can't take that. You just won it."

"I've already got one, remember? I don't need it and I want you to have it."

"Oh, Thol! Thank you," she said as she took the pendant from him. "Can you put it on for me?" she asked.

"Of course," he said. He took the pendant back and went behind her. She moved her hair out of the way so he could fasten the clamp and he noticed how close he was to her. It was having a dizzying effect on him. He noticed his fingers shaking slightly as he fixed the clamp. _You're being silly. You're just putting on a pendant for her. No need to be so shaken up over it_, he thought to himself. "There. All done," he said as he moved back around to her front.

"Thank you, Thol," she said again.

"You already thanked me for it, remember?"

"I know. I just want you to understand how much this means to me."

Thol was rather confused by her response. _What does that mean?_ "We should get moving now. We've been gone for quite awhile," he said, trying to ignore his confusion. . . .

* * * *

Tor and Keza had finished their shopping over twenty minutes ago and had gone directly to the inn as they had agreed on.

"Where are they?" Keza asked in an annoyed voice.

"They'll get here, just calm yourself. Thol and Melira do have to sort through an entire library of spells after all," Tor replied.

"And Goro? All he had to do was purchase more supplies. That shouldn't take longer then fifteen minutes."

"You've a point there. I guess we'll just have to wait. . ."

Goro entered the inn as he was talking.

". . . And see," Tor finished. "Goro, what kept you?"

"There was a merchant from the dwarf caves who was ahead of me so I had to wait for awhile before I was taken care of."

"You see? A perfectly logical explanation," Tor said.

"Yeah, whatever," Keza said. He faced Goro. "Did you run into Valon this time?"

Goro shook his head. "No. I've seen nothing of him since we split up. I'm sure he'll be back soon."

"We'll see," Keza said doubtfully.

They sat in silence for the next few minutes. Keza was rolling his dice on the table with no objective in mind and Tor kept himself amused by trying to keep track of his dice rolls. He gave up after he got to fifty.

Thol and Melira entered a few minutes later. Tor noticed with some amusement that they were holding hands and he figured that it was none of Thol's doing. He also noticed that Melira was smiling more fully then she normally did.

"Hey!" she said as she entered the room with Thol in tow. "Look what Thol gave me!"

Tor looked at the pendant that she was holding up for them to see and whistled. "Wow. That looks like it cost quite a bit of gil. How did you pay for it?"

"He didn't. He won it for me," she said, giving Thol a peculiar look.

"How?" Keza asked.

"An archery contest. It was really no big deal," he said, referring to the gift.  "I already have one of my own," Thol said.

"Maybe so, but it's the thought that counts, Thol," Melira said.

Thol just shrugged and sat down. As usual, Melira sat down next to him. He noticed with a little discomfort that she had yet to let go of his hand.

"Did you two find anything at the shops?" Tor asked.

"Yeah. Even I found a spell or two that I don't know, so it was a fairly worth while trip," Thol said.

"How did you fair, Melira?" Goro asked.

"Excellent. It's going to take me a month to read all these," she said with a happy smile on her face.

"Did you find anything for Valon?" Tor asked.

"Valon already knows every spell here. Speaking of which, where is he?" Thol said.

"We don't know. No one's seen him since we split up. Do you think he went right to the palace?" Keza asked.

Thol rubbed his chin in thought. "It's a possibility I guess. We'll just wait here for now. It was his idea to meet here after all." He had another thought then. "That reminds me, how did the equipment shopping go?"

"Also excellent. The elves are gifted at crafting weapons and armor out of silver. We'll be well armed for a while, although a little broke as well," Tor replied.

Thol nodded and looked at his pile of spell books. He shrugged and picked up the first one to start reading it. He had read only a half page before he was interrupted.

"Thol," Melira said.

"Yes?"

"Could you please pass over one of my books?"

"Of course," he said. He reached over to the pile and moved all of his books off the top. He picked up the first book off Melira's pile and read the title. "Anti-Fire, eh? Funny sort of spell."

"No funnier then," she began to say. She read the title of his book. "Fast," she finished with a grin on her face. She took the book from him and started to read it.

Thol chuckled a bit and went back to reading.

It was well over an hour before Valon finally arrived at the inn.

"What in the world took you so long?" Thol said, glancing up from his second book.

"I was summoned to the palace almost immediately after we parted ways. A strange message arrived at the palace a few days ago addressed to the Light Warriors."

"Interesting. How did anyone know that we were going to be here? We didn't even tell the people of Provoka that we were coming here," Thol said.

"That's just it. The message came from the Northwest Castle."

Thol waited for him to continue. After a few seconds, he said, "And?"

"Wait a minute," Keza said suddenly. "Isn't the Northwest Castle the one that appeared suddenly twenty or so years ago?"

"Exactly."

"So what's so unusual about that, other then the fact that it just appeared that is?" Tor asked.

"Quite simple really. It's the fact that no one has ever returned from there that makes a message from there interesting."

"What did the message say?" Melira asked.

"It said that our help was required. There was no signature, just a funny looking royal seal of some sort. Oh yeah. That's another thing. The letter said that Astos was the one that they wanted help against."

"Then we're going!" Tor said.

"Not so fast, sir knight," Thol said. "How do we know that this isn't some kind of trap? After all, even we didn't know that we were going to come here a few days ago."

"Maybe so, but you have to remember that Lukahn wasn't the only seer in the world. In fact, there are a lot of seers in Elfland," Valon said. "That and Lukahn's prophecy mentions something about Elfland."

Thol sighed. "Okay. I guess I can live with that. Should we go to the palace first or just head out instead?"

Valon ran that over for a second. "I don't think it's really necessary to go to the castle quite yet. The Regent knows that we're here and he is aware of the letter as well."

"Alright, then we'll leave first thing tomorrow," Thol said. With all the arrangements taken care of, he began reading again. . . .

* * * *

They had been traveling for about two and a half days so far and still hadn't reached the castle. The ogres of the area were nowhere near as tough as the two Thol and Tor fought in the cave but there were so many more of them out in the wilderness of Elfland that it didn't really matter. In one particular battle, Keza almost got his arm broken by the club of one of the things, but his agility saved him at the last second.

Thol had only one more book to read and he would have finished his stack. He was doing so as he ate his lunch. Melira on the other hand had only diminished her pile by a quarter. "Are you sure those make as much sense to you as you said they do? I've noticed that you take quite a bit longer then me to read one," he commented as he read.

"That's because it's a lot harder to fix things then it is to break them, Thol," she said to him, not bothering to look up from her book.

"If you say so, but you wouldn't if you had to read the book for any of my high level spells."

The rest of their break was normal to the point of boredom so they were on their way again in short order.

About three hours passed when they finally found the Northwest Castle. Like its sudden appearance, it looked to be an unusual building.

"Well," Goro said. "It can't be much worse then the Temple of Fiends, so we might as well go in."

The others agreed.

They soon found out why no one had ever come back. There were monsters roaming the halls in droves and they were hard pressed to get through. They made it, however, and eventually found themselves in front of the throne room.

Tor was the one who walked up to the doors and opened them. When he wasn't attacked by a raging monster right away, they entered the throne room.

There was a thin, sickly man sitting on the throne that was centered in front of the back wall. He started suddenly as the six of them entered but he relaxed instantly when he saw who they were.

"Thank the Gods you made it! As you can see, Astos has cursed my castle and now I'm stuck here. My last retainer just barely made it through to get my message to you."

"We got your message. What exactly is it you want us to do?" Thol asked of the strange king.

"I need your help in defeating Astos.  I had a crown with the power to banish the him for good, but he sent his minions to steal it from me several years ago.  They've taken it to the cave in the southern marshes.  I ask you to please retrieve it for me."

"Why do you need us to get it?  Why didn't you just send some of your men?" Tor asked.

"Most of them were killed when Astos cursed my castle.  As it was, none of them had the skill to defeat the creatures that took the crown.  I had over a dozen men guarding the crown when they came for it.  None of them survived the encounter.  Only you, the Light Warriors, have the power needed to take the crown back from those creatures."

Thol thought it over. There was something about the strange king that he didn't like but he could find nothing wrong with his story. "Do you know where Astos is right now? There is something he has that we need."

"I'm afraid I cannot help you there.  I've been imprisoned in this castle for far too long.  I know not where he is hiding.  I'm sure he'll return here when he realizes that the crown has been taken back.  We can finish him off then."

"Alright. We'll do it. How many days away is the cave exactly?" Thol asked.

"About two if memory serves correct. Be careful though. The normal creatures of the cave are nearly as dangerous as the ones guarding the crown."

"We will be careful," Thol said. He bowed and left the throne room. The others mimicked his actions and followed him out.

"Well? What do you think?" Keza asked.

"I think that there's something he isn't telling us," Thol said.

"Like where Astos is," Goro replied.

"For one thing, yes, but isn't it a little strange that he is the only one there? Valon said that no one seen the so called retainer either," Thol said.

"Right. For now I think we should just play along and see what happens," Valon added.

"To the cave then," Thol said. . . .

* * * *

To say that the trip through the marsh was horrible was an understatement. Keza was barely able to walk from the queasiness and the insects were in an absolute frenzy. It took them almost a half day just to find the cave. It was to the extreme south of the marsh and well hidden.

The interior of the cave was only marginally better then the outside. It did, however, look as if it was a man made structure. They wasted a good hour or so when they took a wrong turn. After backtracking and picking a different direction, they found a slimy ladder leading deeper into the earth. They all managed to get down without any difficulties and continue on their way. Another half hour or so later they found a second ladder and went down that as well.

It was Thol who inevitably caught Melira when she slipped and fell the rest of the way down. She was grateful of course, but they didn't have the time to stand around all day while she thanked him.

The cavern they had entered was filled with many rooms and it was impossible to tell which one they had to go in.

"We could be here for a week looking through all these. We can save time if we split up," Keza suggested.

"No. If that funny little king was right then we have to stick together. We don't know how the creatures are going to react when we find them," Thol said.

Despite the seemingly gigantic task, it didn't take as long as it first appeared it would. Many of the doors were strangely locked, so it cut down their choices significantly.

The eventually found the room with the crown what seemed to be the exact center of the vast cavern. The creatures that were guarding the crown didn't attack right away like as they all though they would. Instead, the tentacle faced humanoids simply stood in a V-formation in front of the altar. It was obvious that the creature at the vertex was the leader. It was larger and colored differently.

"What do we do now?" Melira asked.

"Um," Thol said. "Let's try and talk to them. Maybe they'll let us have it." He stepped forward and confronted the leader. "We are the Light Warriors. Let us have the crown," he said in an authoritive voice.

The lead creature responded in a booming mental voice. "Lord Bahamut has decreed that none shall possess this holy crown!"

_Bahamut? The dragon king? I thought he was just a legend,_ Thol thought.  He turned towards the others again.

"That old man is full of shit," Keza stated bluntly.

"If these really are minions of Bahamut and not Astos, then perhaps they will know of our quest.  Try explaining it to them, Thol," Valon suggested.

Thol shrugged and stepped toward the lead creature again.  "We are on a quest to revive the orbs.  We require the crown to complete this quest.  Stand aside and let us have it."

"None shall possess the crown! Those who seek to possess the crown must be eliminated!" the creature boomed. With that, the creatures became suddenly animated.

Thol cursed as the leader attacked him. He was just able to get his silver staff up in time to block the creatures smashing blow, even still, he was driven to his knees. He cast a quick, low-level spell to get away from the thing and prepared to cast a more powerful spell. Tor rushed by him to keep the thing busy while he cast.

He was just about to release the powerful fire spell when he heard Melira scream. Without even stopping to think that he could have released the spell on all five of the creatures, he abandoned the spell and leaped at the thing that had knocked her over. He cracked it over the head with his staff but the blow didn't really seem to affect the thing. It inevitably retaliated and threw him against the wall. He could clearly hear a rib crack in the process.

With him out of the way, the creature turned its attention back to Melira who has just getting up. She screamed again as it raised its arms over its head in an attempt to crush her with a massive downward smash. It didn't quite make it though. Thol had recovered and hit it with his highest lightning spell which drove it back stunned long enough for him to get back to his feet. He again attacked the thing with his staff and was rewarded with a gush of orange blood spouting from its forehead. The thing still wasn't down for good though. It hit Thol in his cracked rib with a sweeping fist that sent his careening towards the lead creature.

The creature seemed to wisely think Thol was the greater threat, so it ignored Melira this time and went right after Thol again. Thol stumbled to his feet and was again about to be thrown to the wall but he managed to get it a crushing blow to the thing's temple. The thing screeched and tossed his into the wall anyway, but it was clearly in pain.

Goro had suddenly appeared out of nowhere and began to assault the thing. He had finished off one of the things just a few seconds before and had seen Thol thrown into the wall. "Melira! Help him! We need his magic to end this quickly before anyone else gets seriously hurt," the large man yelled as he fought.

She hardly needed to be told what to do. She had gone to him almost as soon as he hit the floor. "Thol! Wake up, Thol!"

The black mage groaned slightly and tried to rise.

"Thol!" she said again. She looked over to the others to see how they were faring. She was afraid that Thol was beyond her help at the moment and that they would have to fight without him.

Keza was fairing well against his slower adversary. Unfortunately, his silver knife could only do minor damage so it would take a while for the thing to fall.

Goro had his second creature reeling for the moment, but it showed a great deal of tenacity and lashed out at the martial artists left leg. He recovered in short order, but so did the creature.

Valon was keeping his creature busy by alternating between magic and the silver sword he possessed. His magic would only last so long though and then he'd be forced to rely on his sword alone.

The battle between Tor and the lead creature was the most spectacular, however. The creature had an iridescent staff and was giving blows as nasty as the ones Tor's silver sword was dealing out. Lucky the brand new silver armor he wore protected him from all but the most serious blows. It was plain to see that Tor was growing tired and would not be able to keep his attack up for too much longer.

Melira turned back to Thol, who was still unconscious. Not knowing what else to do, she began to cast the strongest curative spell that she knew, even though she was aware that it would not be enough to completely heal him. She touched the pendant Thol gave her as she released the spell for luck. The effect was astounding. The light that was produced from the spell blinded them all, creature and man alike, for a few moments. When they could all see again, they could see that Thol was getting up, though rather slowly and using the wall for support.

Thol looked around the room and tried to clear the haze from his vision. He remembered hitting the wall head first after the creature threw him and after that he blacked out.

"Thol! You have to help them! They can't last much longer!" Melira yelled trying to get through to him.

_Melira?_ He remembered their current situation then and shook his head. The haze cleared and he was able to see the battle raging on. "Shit!" he yelled suddenly. He started the fire spell again and was alarmed when he nearly toppled over. Melira steadied him and he began again.

This time he was able to complete the spell. The three lesser creatures succumbed to flames instantly but the leader just shrugged off the tremendous spell. Tor took up his offensive almost immediately and was soon joined by the other three who no longer had the lesser creatures to worry about.

Exhausted from both his wounds and the casting of the spell, Thol slumped back to the ground.

"Thol!" Melira almost screamed.

"I'm alright. I just need to get my wind back," he said in a shaky voice.

Even with the four of them attacking it, the lead creature still proved to be tough to handle. Keza was nearly thrown through the wall when the thing knocked him out of the way with its staff. Goro tried to get a shot in while it was distracted with Keza but it again showed its unnatural agility and not only blocked the attack but broke his arm in the process.

Valon and Tor quickly began to work together like a well oiled machine and managed to hit the thing every so often but it was still not enough to do serious damage to it. They almost mortally wounded it in an impressive display of swordplay, but the thing blew them both back with its staff. It suddenly turned its attention to the two mages who where side by side against the wall.

Thol cursed and stood up, ignoring the agonizing pain that his twice cracked rib was causing him. He stepped in front of Melira to protect her even though he knew that he wouldn't last long.

Instead of attacking right away, the creature instead spoke to him. "Your wounds are nearly fatal, human.  I know that you are aware that you could not defeat me without magic even at full health, so why do you insist on continuing to fight?"

"It's called friendship.  Look into it. What are you waiting for? Finish me off if you're so sure my wounds are nearly fatal."

The thing contemplated that for a moment. "Why is it that you shield the one behind you with such fierceness?" the thing asked.

Thol stopped breathing for a second. "I-I can't answer that question," he said simply. He wasn't even sure if he even knew the answer to that one.

"None who have come before you have known the honor of loyalty, friendship, and love.  Even in your attacks there is mercy.  You are all different," the thing said. It looked from Thol to Melira and then cocked its head to the side slightly.  After a moment, it spoke again.  "No matter your intentions, I must protect the crown."  It again started forward but was blind sided by both Tor and Valon who had been listening to the thing question Thol.

Valon was unlucky enough to end up like Keza and be thrown into the wall. Tor managed to hold his ground and continue to fight the thing. Thol, unable to cast spells yet, joined his friend in attacking the thing. He actually managed to hit it a few times before it cracked a third rib and sent him back to the wall. Thol cried out as he hit the ground and Melira was there again to support him.

"You have to kill it, Thol! Use the pendant!" she said, in tears.

He painfully tried to stand but could only make it to his knees. It was close enough though. With Melira supporting him, he used his last bit of magical energy and cast his high-level fire spell. The pendant had a similar effect as it did with Melira's magic. Much to Thol's amazement, the thing continued to live.

Tor attacked it again with a look of defeat on his face. His face quickly brightened, however. He could tell right away that the creature was nearly finished. It couldn't move as fast as before and it was bleeding heavily from the wounds he was inflicting. Tor finally managed to kill the thing with a mighty slash that cleaved the thing right down the center.

Tor collapsed as soon as the creature was dead. He was in almost as bad a shape as Thol. Keza had finally begun to stir and Goro, cradling his broken arm, moved to help him. Thol has passed out again from the strain of casting that last spell. Of all of them, he was the worst off.

Melira was the only one who wasn't hurt in some way. She suddenly remembered why they were here and walked up to the altar where the crown sat. She hesitated for a second then removed the crown from where it was. Looking over the crown, she was filled with awe. It was the most beautiful piece object she had ever seen. She placed the crown on the ground beside Thol and then went around to everyone trying to get them healed as much as she could.

Goro's arm proved to be more then she could handle right now so they had to settle with a more mundane solution. The others back at nearly fully steam in moments as they had not broken anything. They were all worried about Thol at the moment. He had not woken up yet and his breathing was labored. Valon advised them that they could not wait for him to wake up. They made a litter for him and moved him that way. They ran into only a few monsters as they made their way back up to the day light. Moving Thol up the ladders proved to be difficult, but they managed without further injury to him.

Later that night at the camp that was set up a few hundred meters away from the marsh, Thol finally woke up. He was definitely in more pain then he had been in for a while. With three broken ribs and one being broken in two places it hurt like Hell to breath. Melira had recovered from her casting spree in the cave enough to lessen his pain somewhat but she was unable to get rid of it entirely. He also still had one Hell of a headache from being slammed into the wall headfirst. That made him rather irritable.

Thol was looking over their prize for the brutal fight critically. "This stupid thing? I almost killed myself for this? I think I'll fry that stupid king for a few weeks when I see him again."

"Thol, the crown is beautiful. Can't you see that?" she said, taking offence to his calling it 'stupid'.

"Big deal. I don't see what it has to do with getting rid of Astos. I'm definitely certain it wasn't worth breaking my ribs over."

"You're impossible." She said in defeat. They were silent for a moment. She remembered something then. "Thol?"

"Yes?"

"When it asked you why you were protecting me, why didn't you answer it?"

"Because it really didn't need to know," he said. _And I'm really not sure why. Other then your father's request of course_.

"Why did you protect me like that?" she asked.

Thol groaned inwardly. I knew she was going to ask that. "I wouldn't worry about it."

"Please, Thol. Tell me."

He sighed. "Well, you're not exactly all that great with your staff and you don't have any offensive magic other than the harm undead stuff. And you're rather frail looking," he said. He knew immediately that he had said the wrong thing at the end, even if it was true.

"Are you trying to say that I'm helpless?" she asked incredulously, her voice going up slightly in volume.

"Well not exactly," Thol said, trying to smooth things over before it was too late.

"But that's what you mean isn't it? You think that just because I'm a girl that I can't defend myself?" she said, almost yelling now.

"I didn't say that! I promised that I'd keep you safe, that's all!" Thol replied, now yelling himself. His headache was dulling his senses otherwise he would have realized that he was making a big mistake.

"Promised who?"

"It doesn't matter who! You should be grateful that for me! I just cracked three ribs back there for you!"

"I didn't ask you to! It's not like you didn't have a choice!"

"I might have had one if your father didn't railroad me into looking after you!"

"My father?" she yelled. Her face had gone red with rage. "Look after me? I don't need you to look after me! I'm not a child!"

"Really? You sure are acting like one right now!"

Her face suddenly went pale. She stood there for a few seconds than slapped him as hard as she could across the face. She stormed out of the tent without saying another word.

Thol stood there in shock. _Why did I have to go and do that?_ he though finally realizing that he had just made a very big mistake. . . .

* * * *

Melira went directly to her own tent and burst into tears. She was convinced now that he didn't really care about her and that he was only being nice to her and protecting her because her father had asked him. She held the pendant that he had given her in her hands and wished she could use it to change what had just happened, but she couldn't. She cried until she had fallen asleep. . . .

* * * *

Thol tried to apologize to her the next day but she just slapped him again declaring that she hated him and that his apology was a lie. Thol slumped his shoulder in defeat at first and then after that was a raging storm of anger. He was angry at himself because this was all his fault and now things would never be the same between the two of them.

The trip back to Northwest Castle was unpleasant for the others too as he had taken out his aggression on his companions. None of them were as rude as to ask what happened so they were a little confused. Their topic of conversation every night inevitably turned towards the two mages at one point or another. Thol knew they talked about it and really didn't care. He kept mostly to himself now and rarely spoke unless it was to issue a blistering reprimand to one of the other men in the group. He had not attempted to speak to Melira at all since that morning, nor did she say anything to him. Nor also would she look at him. He often found himself looking at her and wishing he could take back what he said, but she never once looked at him.

So he thought. She in reality looked at him almost as much as he did her, but she was more covert about it. It hurt her to look at him though. Every time she did so, it made her want to cry. She had only known him for about a month but she couldn't deny it anymore. She was in love with him and she really didn't know why. It wasn't because he was attractive because he was nearly completely covered from head to toe. His attitude was certainly not it. Sometimes she wondered how she even thought of him as a friend. He was so arrogant, rude and was always putting his companions down. She certainly pitied him for his childhood, but pity isn't love. She was sure it wasn't because he was always protecting her because he had proven that he was only doing that because he was asked to. It was none of those things. She knew that. But then she remembered how he acted when Tor found out about Bikke. Moreover, she remembered the children in the park back in Coneria. She thought that perhaps all of his crudeness was just an act. She thought that maybe it was his way of paying the world back for shunning him.

She didn't know and it really didn't matter anymore. There was no way things would ever be the same between them again. That probably hurt her more then the fact that he didn't care about her. There was nothing she could do though, so she just sighed and continued on with the journey.

The next day they had returned to the Northwest Castle with the crown. The king was ecstatic. He took the crown and stared at it in wonder.

"What of Astos, your majesty?" Goro asked of him.

The king tore his eyes away from the crown and gave him a strange look. "Astos?" the king said. He laughed then, a strange, unsettling laugh, then looked at them with now pitch black eyes. "You are all fools! I _am_ Astos and now that I have both the crown and the crystal, I shall become a god!"

The king, Astos, changed then. He grew in height and became something that only vaguely looked like an elf. He had many needle like teeth and large claws jutting from his fingertips. They could see that he now wore the crown and that a large sea blue crystal was embedded in it. When he spoke, his voice was raspy and most certainly evil.

"Nothing can stop me now! You will be the first to have a taste of my new power!" the Dark Elf said. He launched a powerful lightning spell at them that was not unlike Thol's massive fire spell. Melira was quick to throw up an Anti-Lit spell to absorb most of the damage.

Tor, as usual, rushed forward and began slashing at the rather thin being. He found out quickly that his flesh was a strong as steel and his silver sword wasn't very effective. Valon had joined him seconds later, as did Keza and Goro. Even Thol, still weakened from the battle with the guardians, joined in to beat the Dark Elf with his staff. He attacked with a certain brutality that the others had not seen before. He was obviously venting his anger that he had been projecting in the form of physical violence.

Ironically, it was Thol's staff that was harming the Dark Elf the most. Large, angry red welts rose from the elf's body wherever Thol struck. Astos had been striking back as well, but he had been unable to cast another spell due to the close quarters and that alone probably determined the outcome of the battle. He did manage to cast one more spell though. It was one that almost cost Thol his life, but he was so enraged now that he just smothered it with his own spell which was a powerful ice spell.

Thol cast a temper spell on Tor's weapon and with that little advantage, the Dark Elf started to bleed. Astos began slashing like mad and was able to score a few hits. Goro, one arm and all, was deflecting most of these attacks while the other four continued to attack. Thol cast a second temper spell on Valon and he too started drawing blood. That was the last thing he did in the fight though. Astos lashed out at him and caught him in the ribs. Thol grunted in pain and went down.

Melira saw him go down and almost ran to him. She instead cast a healing spell on him and purposely ignored him, waiting to see if the others would need help.

It was Tor who finally dealt the killing blow. Astos was impaled right through the heart and died almost instantly. His body dissolved into a black mist and the crown fell to the floor. The crystal that was embedded in it separated when it hit the floor.

Thol, thanks to Melira's healing spell, picked up both the crown and the crystal and could feel the power that flowed between them. "It's a good thing he didn't get a chance to cast anymore spells," he said absently, more to himself then to the others. He handed the crystal to Goro, who took it with a questioning look on his face. "We should try to keep these two items apart. The power of these two things is incredible. You could probably shatter the world with them when they are brought together."

Goro simply nodded. That was the most he had said to anyone since his falling out with Melira, so he figured that it was a good sign. Unfortunately, Thol had gone back to the way he was almost immediately after then left.

Castle Astos, as it would be known as after that, shuddered and imploded when they were half a day away. The rest of their journey back to Elfland City was uneventful. . . .

* * * *


	11. Chapter Eleven: Loose Ends

Chapter Eleven: Loose Ends

They stopped at Elfland Castle to inform the regent, an older man named Arcilmo, that Astos had been defeated. Arcilmo had asked what they planned to do next. Valon, who had been speaking for the group, informed him that they would be heading to Melmond next. The regent sadly told them that the canal had been filled in by a landslide and that Melmond was inaccessible at the moment. Arcilmo then suggested that they go talk to a dwarven smith who was a guest at the castle at the time.

They found the blacksmith who was, coincidentally, named Smith. He told him that one of his kinsman, Nerrick, was trying to rebuild the canal, but he was having difficulties. He said that he needed some kind of explosive, but the only source of explosive that anyone knew of was in the locked treasury of Coneria Castle and only the prince knew where the key was. Unfortunately, Astos' spell hadn't worn off yet so they were stuck.

Goro had suggested that they take the crystal back to Matoya until they could think of what to do next. They agreed and were going to leave at first light.

Thol now sat in his room looking out the window at the city of Elfland. He had pretty much worn out his anger and now was stuck in a depressed sort of daze. He didn't hear the knock at the door the first time. "Go away," he said automatically.

"Thol. It's Tor. We need to talk," the voice on the other side of the door said.

"I don't have anything to talk about. Go away," Thol said again.

"Thol. If you don't open this door I'm going to break it down. We need to talk."

Tor didn't hear anything at first. He was about to ready himself to break it down when it finally opened. 

Thol just stood there and stared at him. "Are you going to stand there all day or are you coming in?" he asked eventually.

Tor entered without a word and seated himself at the small table that was contained in the room. Thol closed the door and turned to look at him again. Tor motioned for him to sit on the opposite side of the table. He did.

"So are you going to tell me about it?" Tor asked.

"About what?" Thol asked in a dead voice.

"I think you know what I'm talking about."

"Enlighten me."

"What happened between you and Melira?"

"Nothing that is any of your business."

"Actually, Thol, it is my business. You may not know it, but we all look to you as a sort of leader. Valon can lead us just fine, but he isn't comfortable doing it. He also lacks the confidence and that's going to get us in trouble soon. I need to know what happened so that I can help you fix it."

"There's nothing to fix. She hates me. You all heard it."

"She just said that because she is angry and hurt."

"I doubt it."

"Thol. Tell me."

"No."

"Thol. I promise that I'll keep it confidential. I won't tell the others anything."

Thol just sat there staring at him. "Fine. You obviously won't leave me alone until I tell you," he said. He paused for a second and let out a deep breath. "She asked me a question that I could have answered a little better then I did. She took some offence to it and it just got worse from there. I ended up saying things that I really didn't mean."

"And?"

"And nothing. That's the end of it. She hates me and there's nothing I can do about it."

"What did she ask you?"

"Forget it."

"No, Thol. I need to know."

He sighed again. "She asked my why I was protecting her."

"And what did you say?"

He told him.

"What was so bad about that?"

"She seemed to think I was trying to say that she is helpless. Apparently she doesn't think so."

"Do you?"

"No. Not helpless at least. She just isn't at the same level as the rest of us."

"Okay, but that's hardly a reason for her to hate you."

"I told her that her father asked me to look after her. She said that she didn't need looking after and that she wasn't a child."

"I think I can see where this is going. Continue."

"I was rather irritated at that point. We had said more to each other before that, but this was the crux of it all. I told her that she was acting like a child and she hasn't spoken to me since. End of story."

Tor let it all sink in for a moment. "Damn it all!" he shouted suddenly.

Thol was a little startled by his friends sudden out burst. "What?"

"You're both being childish! You're putting the fate of the world on the line over a silly, childish argument!" Tor told him, uncharacteristic anger in his voice.

Thol was taken aback by his friend's words. There was more important things going on other then his relationship with Melira and he was rather directly involved in them. "You're. . . Right, Tor. I have been acting selfish about this. I'll try and be a bit more lively from now on and brood over my personal problems on my own time."

Tor let out a huge sigh of relief. "Good. I was really getting worried for a while. Don't worry too much Thol. Things'll turn out in the end."

"I don't think so. Childish or not, she still hates me."

"No she doesn't, Thol. You'll see," Tor said. He said goodnight to his friend and left him alone in his room.

Thol thought about the conversation for a long time. Tor may be right. She might not hate me, but it will never be the same again. That night, he slept better then he had since that day. . . .

* * * *

Thol took over as leader again the next day when they set off for North Port and back to The Zakonian. He was pretty much back to normal other then being a little less enthusiastic about things. Melira on the other hand was still quite depressed. She paid little attention to Thol's sudden change back to normal. She wasn't really that angry at him anymore. After she had cooled down and thought it over, she realized that she was being childish, but that didn't change the fact that Thol still didn't care about her. She still cried when she was alone and dwelling on it and still wished that she could change things. However, she couldn't so she remained in her depressed state all the way to the ship.

On the ship, she sat in an unoccupied room staring out at the sea. Someone knocked at the door. She didn't feel like talking to anyone so she just ignored it. They knocked again and she still ignored it.

"Melira? It's Goro," said a voice outside the door.

She was surprised it was him. Last time he got so sea sick that he spent the entire voyage in meditation. "Come in," she said finally in a quiet voice.

Goro must have heard because the door opened. She didn't turn to look at him because there was no need. He stood a respectful distance and waited for her to notice he was there.

After a moment or so, she finally spoke. "Yes, Goro? What did you want?"

"To talk."

"About what?" she said, unknowingly mimicking Thol's words.

"It's not good for your health to be depressed like this."

"So?"

"So, you need to snap out of it."

"And how might I do that, Goro? Tell me," she said, tonelessly sarcastic.

"Tell me what's bothering you."

"There's nothing to tell. He doesn't care about me," she said, contradicting herself.

"Thol?"

She didn't say anything. Instead, she bowed her head a little. "He was being so nice to me. I mean, he gave me this pendant," she said as she held it in her hand and looked at it. "It has to be worth a fortune. And he was always trying to keep me from being harmed. . ." She trailed off suddenly and let out a painful sob. "He was only doing it because my father asked him to. He doesn't care," she said, tears once again sliding down her face.

Goro put a comforting hand on her shoulder. "No. You're wrong. He does care about you. You hurt him more then you could imagine when you told him that you hated him. You don't, do you?"

"Of course not. I lo. . ." she said, breaking off before she said what she was going to say.

"Is it really so hard to say it? We all know how you feel about him. You remember what I told you back at Matoya's cave?"

She shook her head, still crying.

"I told you to tell him how you feel. For some reason he is the only one who isn't aware of how you feel. Of course, you're the same way. Everyone except you knows how he feels about you."

"I know. He doesn't care," she said weakly.

Goro sighed. "Melira, you'll have to start talking to him again one day. The sooner the better. He's not going to try talking to you anymore. Tor tells me that he's convinced that you hate him. You should also try telling him how you feel. That's another thing he's not going to do."

She didn't say anything at first. She simply sat there crying lightly. "How can I even look at him after what I've done? He'll never forgive me."

"Yes he will. Try it."

"I-I'm not ready yet. I can't do it."

"Very well. At least try to get out of this depression you're in. At the very least.  He does car.  Trust me," Goro said. He stood there for a few more seconds and then left her on her own.

She sat there for some time not moving. Her tears had stopped and she was able to think clearly. She wasn't sure when she would finally be able to talk to him again, but she was going to eventually. She had to. . . .

* * * *

"Those two are so stubborn!" Goro exclaimed as he entered the room where the others, minus Thol, were sitting.

"Her too?" Tor asked.

"Yes. She's totally convinced that Thol doesn't care about her at all."

"Oh, those two. We should just lock them in a room together until they finally admit it to each other," Tor said.

"That might work," Keza commented.

"Or it might backfire," Valon added.

"Pessimist," Keza replied.

Tor just shook his head at the antics of his two friends. . . .

* * * *

Thol was thirsty. He had been moping about his room for the entire day thinking about Melira. He was trying to come to grips with what he felt for the girl. He was ready to admit it. He was in love with her. As illogical as it sounded, he managed to fall in love with her in less then thirty days. That has to be some sort of record, he thought. He didn't really believe in love at first sight, but what had happened with Melira was pretty damned close.

He was on his way to the galley and was about to round the corner to get there and stopped dead. Melira had also just begun rounding the corner and they nearly collided. _Again_, Thol's thoughts reminded him.

For what seemed like a long time, they both just stood there staring at each other. Melira was the one who broke the spell. Her face suddenly tightened from the pain and she looked down at the floor and walked away. 

Thol's shoulders slumped as she went by. "I'm sorry," he said in a voice so quiet that it nearly didn't exist. . . .

* * * *

They docked at Coneria Port four days after leaving Elfland. The weather was gloomy and it had been raining constantly for two days. Lucky for them the storm was mild so there were no complications out at sea.

Thol looked up at the sky that was producing the horrible weather and thought, _Well at least it suits my mood_. He turned to the others, trying to avoid looking at Melira. "Alright. We'll stay here until tomorrow so we'll get rooms at the inn. Whatever else you want to do while you're here is entirely up to you," he said. He started off and left the others behind.

Melira also left without a word. She headed off in a different direction though.

The others went to the pub to see what was happening in the city. After they had rescued the princess, things around Coneria returned pretty much back to normal, as they found out. There were still rumors floating about concerning Matoya but they had mostly dried out due to her confinement to her cave.

Word had spread from Provoka of the incident with Bikke's pirates as well. Trade had resumed with the port city and things there had returned to normal as well.

"Seems like everywhere we go, things start fixing themselves," Keza commented.

"I'm guessing that's the general idea behind this whole Light Warriors thing," Tor replied.

"Not everything has been fixed. The elements are still decaying," Valon said.

"That's why we're trying to get to Melmond," Tor said.

"I know. Just making conversation."

"Whatever," Keza said.

Goro had been fairly silent since they had arrived. "I think I'll go see how they are fairing with the new library," he said suddenly. He got up and left without another word. The pub was obviously not a place he liked to be.

The trip to the partially build library was a short but wet one. It had started raining a little harder since they had arrived at port. He didn't run into too many people as he expected. The library, he could see, was coming along well. They had finished the roof on it so the workers had some place to store their tools at times like this when it was raining. He walked into the building via one of the unfinished walls. The interior was moving along as well. He figured that the library would be completed within a month or two.

He eventually arrived in a large, empty chamber. It had been awhile since he had last meditated so he figured that he would do so here. He picked the approximate center of the room and sat down. His meditation lasted well into the night. . . .

* * * *

It took them two days to reach Matoya's cave. They didn't have anything pressing to do until they could figure out a way to Melmond so they had taken their time. The outside of the cave looked the same other than the few weeds that had grown in. The immediate inside was the same as well. The cavern where Matoya actually lived, however, was starting to show signs of inattention.

"Matoya?" Goro called as they entered.

From the other room they heard a voice. "Who's there?" she asked, again in a frightened voice.

"It is us. We have returned with your crystal," Goro replied. He obviously didn't stop to think that she wouldn't know who 'us' was.

Nevertheless, Matoya slowly made her way into the room. Goro went over to her immediately to help her. "Goro. You have my crystal?"

Goro opened his pouch and took it out. Matoya seemed to sense it and took it from him. She blinked a few times while her eyes got used to being able to see again. She looked at Goro then and smiled at him.

"Thank you," she said. She turned to look at the others. "Please sit down. I'd like to talk for awhile now that I can see all of you."

They sat and talked for the rest of the day. The others brought her up-to-date on their quest.

"The prince is still sleeping? You should have said so earlier," Matoya said. She got up from where she was sitting and went into a different room. She returned with a frown on her face and a jar with some sort of plant leaf in it. "This place is a mess. I've really got to get it cleaned." She gave the jar to Goro. "This herb will cure any magical ailment there is. Give it to the doctors in Elfland and they'll know what to do."

"Thank you, Matoya," Tor said. "You have greatly aided us in our quest."

"Oh, don't be silly. It's the least I can do after you got back my crystal," she said. She looked at Thol then and realized that he hadn't said a word yet. He was sitting and staring at the wall with his head propped up on his fist. She looked across the room at Melira, who also had said nothing and was staring at the floor. She was about to ask what happened, but Goro stopped her. She looked at him and he shook his head.

She looked around her home then and sighed theatrically. "Well, I guess I should start getting this place cleaned up. You're all welcome to stay the night as long as you keep out from under my feet while I'm cleaning."

Tor once again thanked her and they moved out of the room while she cleaned. They soon found out that Matoya's 'little' home was far from little. Thol had disappeared as soon as he left the room as did Melira, both going to different places.

It was much later when Matoya found Thol sitting by himself staring into a fire that he had built. She wordlessly sat down next to him and also stared into the fire. After a few moments, she finally spoke.

"I've never seen you like this before, Thol. What's happened to you?"

He was silent for a few moments. "Nothing."

"Come on, Thol. We've been friends for a long time. I know you better then that. What happened between you and your white mage?"

He was silent again at first. He found it peculiar how she kept referring to Melira as 'his' white mage. He sighed and told her exactly what happened.

"Oh, Thol. You can be such a silly fool at times. Why did you ever do such a thing?"

"I don't know. I wish I could take it all back, but it's too late now. She hates me."

"Oh really? Do you think that if she really hated you that she would still be moping around like she is?"

He didn't have an answer for that.

"You're in love with her, right?"

He nodded after a short hesitation.

"Have you told her that?"

He shook his head.

"You should. I think you'd be surprised."

He didn't respond to that at first. "She hates me," he said again.

She stood up suddenly, frustrated. "Thol! You're so stubborn! You can't see what's right in front of you! Would it surprise you to know that I was in love with you at one point?"

Thol looked up at her suddenly. He _was_ surprised to hear that.

"Of course you are. You're blind, Thol. You are more blind then I ever was without my crystal," she said. She left him there like that to think it over.

He sat for a long time thinking about what she had just said. _Maybe I am blind. Maybe she doesn't hate me after all_, he thought. He stared into the fire again wondering what he was going to do. . . .

* * * *

They said their goodbyes the next day. Matoya's goodbye to Goro was excessively long and led the others to jump to conclusions, all of which were right. Thol's farewell was simple. He embraced his friend. The others could hear them whisper something to each other and they figured it had something to do with Melira.

Melira had already left by then. She had returned to her belief that Thol was in love with Matoya and couldn't bear to watch.

They arrived back at the port in Coneria in a day and a half and to North Port in three days. They arrived at the castle near dusk and delivered the herb to the physicians. The prince woke up with a start and demanded to know where Astos was. After the regent explained that he had been asleep for over twenty years and what had happened since then, the prince ordered a national celebration for the coming of the Light Warriors.

Again, they were all forced to dress up and be publicly honored. More so then last time, Thol hated it. After the main ceremony, Thol sat looking out at the city again. He didn't know where his friends were at the moment and really didn't care. He finished his current drink and decided that he had had enough of sitting around. He found his way to an unoccupied balcony again and spent his time staring at the stars. Eventually he tired of looking at the stars and let his head droop down to rest on his folded arms.

He never knew how long he stood there like that, but afterwards he went back to his room and went to sleep. . . .

* * * *

The prince's coronation was to be held the next day. The Light Warriors were expected to attend of course. Again, Thol sat looking off in the distance not really caring what was going on. It took about two hours for the ceremony to be completed. Thol was headed to his room when he happened to glance over at the balcony to his left. Melira was standing looking out over the landscape similar to how he was the night before. He stopped and watched her for a while, debating whether he should go over there with her.

She must have felt that someone was watching her as she eventually turned around and looked at him. They stared at each other for a while before Thol continued on his way. He wasn't ready yet. He figured that he'd eventually have to start speaking with her again, if only for the sake of the quest, but not today.

It took until the next day before they could see the prince, who was now king, concerning the matter of the Key of Coneria. The king was, of course, only too happy to see them.

They were admitted to the throne room around noon and had gone through the business of addressing each other in proper form.

"Now I assume that you asked to see me for reasons other than spouting silly formalities?" the king said once they were all seated.

"You're absolutely correct, your majesty," Tor said.

"Please, we are friends. Simply call me Arastari."

"As you wish."

"So what is it you wish of me?"

"Your ancestor was given the Key of Coneria as a gift of friendship a long time ago. We have a need for it. Would you, by chance, lend it to us?"

"Why of course. I owe you much more then that. I'll get it right away," Arastari said. He got up and left the room then.

"Good, we can finally get on with our quest," Keza said.

"Yes. All this inactivity has me out of shape," Goro replied.

"I thought you practiced every day?" Valon asked.

"Between all these ceremonies and ship rides, I haven't had all that much time."

"True," Valon said, nodding once.

Arastari returned a moment later with the key. "And here it is," he said handing it to Tor. "Bring it back whenever you are finished with it."

"Thank you, Arastari. With this key we can continue with our quest."

"I pray that you are successful. We have felt keenly the rot of the earth and the rapid decent of the other elements."

Thol stood up now. "If you'll excuse us, we really should be moving on now. We must again cross the Aldi Sea to Coneria and the weather doesn't look like it's going to hold for much longer."

"I understand. Good luck then, and farewell," Arastari said.

They set out later that day after getting the sail replaced. A sudden strong wind had kicked up while they were lowering the sail when they docked earlier and it had torn it almost half way down. They took only half an hour to replace it and they were on their way.

The weather turned sour on them during their second day of travel. A large rainstorm accompanied by strong winds kept both sailors and passengers alike on their toes. The storm had blown them way off course so it took almost five days to finally reach Coneria. The ship needed repairs from the storm so they would be grounded for a few days.

They headed directly to the castle and to the throne room where they requested an audience with the king.

"Ah! You're back. How fares the quest?" the king asked as they were admitted to the throne room.

"It goes well thus far, your Majesty. We do, however, have a request of you," Thol said.

"Go right ahead. Anything that you need, I'll provide."

"Right," Thol said. He took the key out to show the king. "As you can see, this is the Key of Coneria which we have borrowed from his majesty, king Arastari of Elfland, who has recently been reawakened from the Dark Elf Astos' sleeping spell. There is an item in the locked treasury that we require. If you would be so kind as to inform us to the location of this treasury, then we will return to our quest just as soon as we finish the repairs to our vessel."

"At once. Kraim," the king said.

A fully armored soldier stepped forward. "Yes, your majesty?"

"Show the Light Warriors to the treasury and then return here as soon as they are finished."

"At once, sire," Kraim said. He turned to the six of them. "If you'll follow me, sirs."

The trip to the treasury took no more then ten minutes. One look at the inside, however, told them that it would take much longer to locate the explosives.

"Well there's not room enough for all six of us. Goro, Keza, and I will work on finding it. The rest of you go rest or whatever. We'll send for you when we find it," Thol said. He turned to Keza then. "And we're going to find only the explosives, right Keza?"

"Of course," he replied.

The other three left immediately afterwards. Tor went to find his princess who he wasn't able to see during their last visit. Valon decided to look into the library in the castle for any scrolls that Elfland didn't have. Melira simply went to her room that was set aside for her by the king. They all had similar rooms that they could use whenever they were at the castle.

It took the three of them four hours to finally locate the old, half rotten case of explosives. The explosives themselves were still in good condition though, so it wasn't a waste of time.

With their main task out of the way, Thol set out to track Tor down. He found him with his princess sitting by a balcony in the eastern part of the castle.

"Tor," he said as he approached.

"Did you find them?"

"Yes," he replied. He turned to Princess Sara and bowed. "Your highness."

"Hello, Thol. How have you been?"

"Don't ask," he said. He turned to Tor again. "I hate to tear you away from your princess, but I'd like you to go down to the port and find out how long the repairs are liable to take."

"Alright. Where will you be?"

"I'm not sure. I might be in my room or I might just wander around a bit. I'm feeling kinda restless right now."

"Did you fix things with. . ."

"No," Thol said, cutting him off in mid sentence. "I tried once already if you recall. I don't hold too much hope for things to just fix themselves either."

"I still think you should try."

"We'll see," Thol replied.

He wandered around for about an hour before he went to his room. Tor showed up thirty minutes later to tell him that the repairs would take another twenty hours at least.

He sent Tor to check on things again the next morning and then went to find Valon. He had been working on trying to figure out how the explosives worked just in case there was a need for them again in the future.

"Well?" Thol asked as he entered.

Valon was cursing loudly as he looked at one of the explosives that he had taken apart. "I understand how it's put together physically. It's the magic in it that I don't understand. I can't seem to figure out exactly what the mage used on it."

"Let me see," Thol said. He waved a hand over it to try to see what sort of magic was cast on it. He was confounded by the results. The spell seemed to be a black magic spell, but there was more to it then just that. "What in the Hell? Is that white magic?"

"That's what I thought too, but no one has ever been able to combine a white and black magic spell. I think this is out of our league, my friend."

"For now anyway. If we ever have to go near Crescent Lake, I'll get the sages to have a look at it. They should be able to tell us something."

"Right. I'll keep this one separate from the others."

Thol nodded and headed back to his room. He was so busy concentrating on figuring out the secret to the explosives that he failed to notice that he had passed by Melira who was sitting with the Princess Adonna, Sara's younger sister.

"It must be exciting to be on a grand quest like that," Adonna was saying.

Melira sighed. "I guess so. I don't really do too much in fights. I'm not very good at fighting actually. I'm a healer after all," she said. _Thol was right. I don't know why I got so mad at him. I wish I had never asked him why_, she thought to herself.

"But you get to travel all over the world! I'm stuck in this castle all day and every day. Surely that must be fun."

She sighed again. "I suppose it is," she replied, half-heartedly.

"What ever is the matter, dear? You've been sighing like you've lost your only friend and you haven't smiled once."

_You're pretty close to what's wrong_, she thought. "It's nothing to worry about. It was my fault anyway."

"Do tell me about it. I might be able to help you."

_I doubt it_. "Alright. Here goes," she said, telling her what happened. . . .

* * * *

They left later that day to find the dwarf caves. The king had informed them that the dwarfs had a seaport somewhere to the west of the castle. It took them four days to finally find it. The port itself was deserted other then a rickety old ship that was securely tied and anchored down. They docked next to it and secured their own ship in a similar way.

There was a crudely drawn map posted on a sign that told them that the cave was southwest of the docks. From the map, Goro estimated that it would take them about a day and a half to get there.

During their second day of traveling, they ran into some problems.

"Hey, Thol," Tor said.

"Yeah? What do you want?"

"What happened to the lower part of your mask anyway? You haven't been wearing it for quite awhile now,"

Thol let out a snorting laugh. "I lost it at Coneria sometime during that stupid celebration."

"Oh," Tor said, stupidly.

They walked on in silence for a few moments when they were attacked by a large pack of gray wolves. There were about three wolves for every one of them so they knew that they were in for some trouble.

Thol immediately cast a lightning spell on his group of wolves. It didn't have the same effect as it did on the ones near Coneria, however, so he was forced to fight them with his staff.

Tor killed two of them in seconds and a third almost immediately after. He made his way over to Keza who seemed to be having some difficulty with the four attacking him.

Valon and Goro were backed up against a large rock by seven more of the things. Between the two of them, they managed to hold them back, but they weren't doing very much damage in the process.

Over where Thol was fighting, the wolves seemed to be getting smarter. He was hard pressed to keep them back and on more then one occasion, they made it through his guard. He eventually got tired of it all and sent an ice spell at them. The spell took care of two of them so he only had to deal with one more. He finally finished it off with a vicious shot to the head. He paused for a minute to catch his breath when he heard Melira let out a scream.

He rushed over to her and let out another lightning spell as he went. One of them had knocked her down and she was just barely keeping it back with her staff. The other one took the brunt of the spell and was staggering around. He kicked that one out of the way and bashed the other one over the skull with his staff. It gave up its attack on Melira immediately and instead attacked Thol. He hit it again with his staff and was suddenly hit from behind by the other wolf. It bit into his staff arm and had him fairly well pinned down. The second wolf was rushing for him but Thol released a fire spell right in its eyes, blinding it. He was about to turn his attention to the wolf that was tearing into his arm when Melira crashed her staff into the back of its neck. The thing yelped and jumped away. Thol wasted no time getting to his feet and blasting it with his last lightning spell. He kneeled on the ground, leaning on his staff trying to catch his breath and wondering how much damage the wolf did to his arm.

Goro eventually broke free of the barrier of wolves and the two of them caught the remaining five wolves in a pincer attack. With only three of them remaining, Tor and Keza also joined in. It was over in seconds.

In the end, Thol took the worst of the damage because he had faced down five of them almost single-handedly. Melira, though saying nothing, did her best to heal him. Thol also said nothing but let her heal him.

Due to their run in with the pack of wolves, it took them until the next day to finally make it to the Dwarf Cave. The pair of dwarves that stood guard at the gates to the city greeted them warmly. Thol inquired at to where they might find Nerrick and the guards told them.

They ran into Smith on their way there. The old dwarf said that he would take them to Nerrick. He lead them trough a series of winding tunnels where they could here the sound of rock being moved. "Nerrick!" the old dwarf yelled. "Nerrick! Where are you, damn it?"

The noise stopped suddenly and a muscular dwarf stepped around the corner. "Smith. Can't you see that I'm busy?"

"Oh shut yer hole, you blundering ape! These people have something for you."

"Oh yeah? And what might that be?"

Valon stepped forward and handed him the box of explosives. The Nerrick opened it and his eyes went wide. "Where did you get this? The only supply of explosives on this continent is in Coneria and that door is locked!"

Thol held up the key. "Not anymore it isn't."

The dwarf's eyes went wide again. "Who are you people?" he asked.

"We are the Light Warriors of Lukahn's Prophecy," Tor said.

"Lukahn? Isn't that fool Guran always talking about him?" Nerrick asked.

"Aye. Believe me, old friend, they truly are who they claim. I was in Elfland when they returned from their victory over the Dark Elf Astos!"

"So it's true," Nerrick said. He looked at the six of them. "You have done me a great favor by giving me these. If there's anything I can do for you in return, just ask."

"We wish that you simply finish the rebuilding of the canal. We have business in Melmond that we cannot attend until the way is clear," Tor said.

"Not a problem! Smith, take them to the inn and tell Ukthal that they can stay for as long as it takes me to finish this canal. Tell him I'll pay for their stay."

"You are very kind, Nerrick. We thank you," Tor said.

"Bah! It's nothing. I'll have someone inform you when the canal is finished, until then enjoy yourselves. We dwarves know how to throw one Hell of a party!"

And that they did as soon a word got around of who they were and their gift to Nerrick. Thol did manage to have a little fun, but he still retired early and went back to the inn. He had borrowed a book from the innkeeper, Ukthal, and was in the process of trying to learn Dwarfish. He had been reading when there was a barely detectable rap on the door. Wondering who it could possibly be, he got up and opened the door.

It was Melira, the last person he expected to see. He let his surprise show through the fact that he didn't say anything for over a minute.

"May I come in?" she asked, almost as if she was afraid to.

Finally managing to find his voice, he replied. "Of course."

She entered but didn't sit down. She instead stood using the back of a chair for support. Thol closed the door and turned to her. She was facing away from him with her head bowed slightly.

She didn't say anything for quite awhile. When she finally did, her voice was broken and quiet. "Thol, I. . ." she started to say. He took a step toward her. "I don't know why I got so mad at you. You were right. I can't fight. You had to save me again outside the caves. I'm sorry, Thol. I don't hate you. I was just mad when I said that." She had begun to cry again as much as she tried not to.

Thol wordlessly stepped up to her and wrapped his arms around her. She turned to face him and clung to him. "I'm sorry," she said again through her tears.

"Don't worry about it. It's over now. It was my fault just as much as it was yours, if not more," he replied in a soft voice.

"No. You were right. I was being childish."

"So was I. Let's just forget that it ever happened."

She nodded her head and tried to stop crying. Thol continued to hold her and said nothing.

After some five minutes or so, she spoke again. "Thol?"

"Yes?"

"Were you really just protecting me because my father asked you to?"

He hesitated a moment. "No. That wasn't it. He did ask me, but that wasn't why."

"Why did you then?"

Again, he hesitated. "Because I care about you and I don't want to see you hurt."

She smiled and was silent for a moment. "Thank you," she said quietly and everything was right again. . . .

* * * *


	12. Chapter Twelve: The Vampire's Curse

Chapter Twelve: The Vampire's Curse

They spent the rest of that day and most of the next with each other, the whole time constantly apologizing to each other. The others noticed their sudden change in attitude towards each other but said nothing.

Nerrick sent word for them that same day telling them that the canal was back in working order. They departed the next morning and took two days to return to The Zakonian. The sailors from Provoka kept the ship in good condition so they were able to leave right away.

The journey to the port in Melmond took about four days. They could tell even before docking that there was something wrong. The port was in shambles and there wasn't a ship in sight. They docked as best they could in the debris-filled port and headed for land. There was a noticeable amount of blood on the ground so they figured that there had been some sort of struggle. Their search for survivors came up empty handed.

"I don't like this," Keza said. "I've never heard of anything around here that could do this. Heck, it would take and army of ogres to do this kind of damage."

"I sense something. . . Evil," Thol said as he looked around. "It's not here anymore, but it was."

"I feel it too. Whatever it is, it's unnatural," Melira added.

Valon, having sacrificed the more advanced levels of training in order to learn both schools of magic, did not have any such skills as the other two mages, so he had nothing to say.

"Let's hope the city itself isn't like this," Tor said in a grave voice.

A half hour walk later and they arrived at Melmond City. They could see that it too was damaged. The difference, however, was that there were people here.

"My god! What happened here?" Keza yelled upon seeing the damage. He looked about and stared in horror at the shear number of tombstones dotting the cityscape.

Tor stopped a passing citizen. "Excuse me, good sir. Could you tell us what has befallen your city?"

The man snorted. "The Vampire of the Earth, that's what. No one knows where it came from, but it showed up with an army of creatures and laid waste to the port and most of the city. The clinic especially was hit hard. All that's left of it is the foundation."

"Why would it do so?" Valon asked.

The man again snorted. "Does a thing such as a vampire need a reason for anything? I don't know. You should go talk to Almus. He was one of the few who survived the direct attack on the vampire."

"Where is he now?" Keza asked.

"Over at the widow Irlis' house. He took a pretty deep wound in battle and is recovering with the others there."

"Widow? What happened to her husband?" Keza asked.

"Killed by the vampire. He was one of the first victims," the man said. He headed of now, apparently finished talking.

"You know where it is I take it?" Tor asked.

"Of course. This is my hometown after all."  He paused for a moment and looked around.  "Or what's left of it anyway," he added bitterly.

Keza led them to a large house with only minor damage. He knocked on the door, which bore a deep scratch, and they waited.

An older man answered the door. "Yes? Is the vampire back? Are there more wounded?"

"No, the vampire hasn't come back. We've come to see a man by the name of Almus. We heard that he was recovering here," Keza said.

The old man looked at Keza closely. "You look familiar. Have we by any chance met before young man?"

Keza looked down at the ground, ashamed of himself. "I loath to admit it, sir, but yes we have. You may recall a thieving youth that left this city a few years ago by the name of Keza. That would be me."

The old man's eyes widened in recognition. "Why yes. I do remember you. What brings you back to town? Last I recall the authorities had put out a reward for you."

"I've been included in a quest in hopes that I may atone for my past actions."

"Well I'm glad to hear that. I don't really blame you for your actions personally. In a way, it's the towns fault for not taking you in after your parents were killed. Almus did you say?"

"Yes. That would be the one."

"I'll lead you to him," the old man said. He took them up a flight of steps and down a hallway. He stopped at the third door to the right and knocked lightly. "Almus? Are you awake?"

"I am," said a voice from within the room.

"You have visitors."

"Send them in."

The old man turned to Keza. "There you have it. Be sure and see Irlis before you go. She misses you," the old man said. He went back down stairs then.

"You know her?" Valon asked.

"Yes. She's only a few years older then me and we used to play together when we were younger."

"And when did you leave this city?" Thol asked.

"When I was thirteen."

"Wouldn't that make her a little young to be married?"

Keza shrugged. "It was an arranged marriage. I personally don't approve of those sorts of things, but the older folks around here are just a little old fashioned. She was of legal age of course."

"I see," Thol replied. He stepped forward and opened the door to the room. The man to whom the voice belonged to was a well build, probably tall man. It was difficult to tell as he was lying on the bed.

"You're Almus I take it?" Thol asked as they filed in.

"I am. You have me a disadvantage as I am unaware of your identities."

Thol made the introductions, leaving Keza for last on purpose.

Almus took a better look at Keza after hearing his name. "Keza Kran? From here in town?"

"That would be me. I see time hasn't diminished my local fame," he said with a hint of self-mocking sarcasm.

"It's not what you think.  You may not think it from how they acted, but there are many who were saddened when you left.  One person in particular comes to mind."

Keza shrugged. "We are here for a reason of course," he said, ignoring what the man said.

"The vampire?"

"Precisely," Thol said. "We were told that you might know why it attacked the city."

"Not exactly.  It seemed as though it was looking for something or someone however.  I also over heard it talking to one of its minions.  It said something like 'We must destroy the Source of Words before we are destroyed by it'.  I have no idea what it was talking about."

Thol scratched his chin in thought.

"Any ideas?" Valon asked.

"None. I think we should look around town a bit and see if we can find someone unusual. Does the prophecy say anything about Melmond?"

Valon shook his head. "The prophecy gets a little vague from here on out, but what he said, the Source of Words, that has a familiar ring to it, but other then that, there's nothing."

"Damn it. I was hoping for some help there but I guess we'll just have to figure it out on our own. We'll split up again and ask around. We can do some shopping while we're at it, if there's any shops left that is," Thol said.

"I'll be along as soon as I'm done here," Keza replied.

"You want me to meet you at the shops?" Tor asked.

"No, that's alright.  I'll only be a little while."  He turned to the others. "We'll meet you all later," he said, the two of them leaving right after.

Thol turned to Almus. "We thank you for your information. May your wounds heal soon."

"No problem," the bed-ridden man replied.

The rest of them left then and went on their respective trips to the local shops.

They eventually all met at what was left of the pub. Valon had gathered some information on the vampire itself and learned that it lived in a cave southwest of the city.  Goro had found some other news that the others found interesting however.

            "I ran into a man calling himself Doctor Unne, he says that he is a scholar," he said when they were all seated.

            "That's wonderful, but how does that relate to our quest?" Keza asked.

            "He is a linguist scholar.  He was here to study an old journal supposedly written by an old tyrant that was overthrown.  The text was so old that no one was able to identify what language it was written in."

            "I still don't see how that is important," Keza replied.

            "That's it!" Valon exclaimed, rising to his feet suddenly, startling the others with his sudden burst of movement.

            "Okay, that's great, now would you care to explain why you almost gave me a heart attack?" Thol said.

            "Almus was telling us about how the vampire was looking for the Source of Words.  Now this Dr. Unne is a linguist.  Think about it for a second.  Would you not say that a linguist is a source of words?" Valon explained.

            Thol was silent for a moment.  "That is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard.  Where ever did you come up with such a thing?"

            "Lukahn's Prophecy.  'And so you shall be given the Words and he shall be the Source'."

            "I thought you said that the prophecy was getting vague," Thol commented.

            "It is, but the first part references quite a few of the people who we will meet.  The Source is one of them.  I'm surprised I didn't recognize it before.  It seems that we haven't seen the last of Dr. Unne."

            "Okay, so we've got that figured out.  What else is there?" Thol asked, moving things along.

            "As I said earlier, the vampire lives in a cave to the southwest.  The locals call it the Cave of the Earth," Valon said.

"Do you think that's where the Orb of the Earth is?" Tor asked.

"From what I can tell, there's no other place it can be," said Valon. "The only thing else in this part of the world is the Titan's Cave and a place people call Cave Sarda."

"Did you find anything out about this Cave Sarda?" Thol asked.

"Apparently there is a sage that lives there that the vampire is afraid of. He's also supposed to know the whereabouts of the Earth Orb."

"So why don't we go there next?" Keza suggested.

"There's a small problem with that. The townspeople say that the Titan has been possessed by something and no one has been able to get through the cave since then," Valon replied. "I think if we're going to do anything, we're stuck with the Cave of the Earth."

"Right. Then we'll go there and take care of this Vampire of the Earth then," Thol said. "Are we all done shopping?"

They were.

"Good. Then shall we leave? We still have plenty of daylight left to travel under," he said. That being said, they set out minutes later for the Cave of the Earth. . . .

* * * *

The first three days of the trip were elementary. The monsters seemed subdued and even though they were walking through the largest marsh in the world, they made good time. It was on the fourth day that things started to get hairy.

They started encountering monsters more often and on top of that, the monsters themselves were more brutal and nasty. The terrain was more manageable, however.

They noticed that the bulk of the monster that they ran into where undead which made Melira's Harm Undead spells extremely useful. She had become a very proficient magician as a result of the last two visits to spell shops. Her ability to absorb new spells was amazing and even Thol was having difficulty matching her speed now. It was later that night that Thol ran into a problem in one of the spell books.

"Damn it! It doesn't make sense!" he yelled, almost flinging the rather large tome into the campfire.

"What's wrong, Thol?" Melira asked, looking up from the book that she was currently reading.

"This stupid spell! It just doesn't make any sense. I don't understand it," he said, fuming.

"Which spell is it?" she asked out of curiosity.

"Warp," he said, looking at the book in disgust. "It's probably a useless spell anyway. I should have spent my money one something more worth while."

"Just put it away for the night. It might make more sense tomorrow."

"I doubt it. It's not even written the same as the other ones. I've never run into a problem like this one before. It's unnatural I tell you."

"Poor Thol. Everything seems to be going wrong for you."

"Well, I wouldn't say everything," he said.

She knew what he meant and smiled slightly.

They finally found the cave late the next day. The cave was eerily silent as they made their approach.

"It's getting a little late," Keza commented. "Do you think we should wait until tomorrow before going in?"

Thol scratched his face in thought. _I'll have to shave one of these days_, he thought absently. "No," he said finally. "There's a lot of undead things in there, I can sense them. We'll just end up fighting all night if we camp now. We might as well go inside."

Keza just shrugged and dug into his pack to get a torch ready.

The first level of the cave was a twisting maze of tunnels, one of which was absolutely infested with giants. It took them over an hour to finally find the stairs that led deeper into the cave.

They were in for a shock when they reached the second level. While the first level looked more or less what a cave should look like, the second level was obviously a man made structure. They figured that the original cave consisted of only the first level and that the lower levels were created whenever the undead forces had taken it over.

Another two hours later, the end of the strange, man made tunnels was insight. A bloodstained door was set into the wall at the end of the hall. There were strange markings that decorated this place clearly showed that there was something unusual beyond the doors.

Tor opened the door slowly and a thick mist poured out from inside the room. He stopped and looked at Thol. The black mage nodded for him to proceed. Tor thrust the door open and jumped in, ready at a moments notice to strike down anything that poses a threat.

He was surprised to find nothing but the strange mist in the room. "The coast is clear," he said to the others, motioning for them to enter.

Thol could tell immediately that there was definitely something wrong. He cast a glance a Melira and could see that she noticed as well. "Be careful," he said. "Things aren't exactly as they appear."

They filed into the room and spread out to look around. Goro was at the back of the room when he found something. "Hey guys! There's a door back here."

Just as he said that, the mist started to gather in the center of the room. An inhuman voice emanated from the shape.

"All living things were born to die. . ." it said.

Tor spun around. "What are you? Show yourself!" he shouted.

"You will not leave this room alive. . ."

"No!  I'll defeat you myself for what you did to Melmond!" Keza yelled defiantly.

"Fool! You cannot defeat me! I am the Vampire of the Earth and I am invincible!" the voice roared. The shape forming in the mist suddenly solidified and the vampire leapt forth and attacked Keza, who was the closest to it.

Keza reacted instantly and rolled the vampire over top of him. The creature was hit with a double blast of fire and harm undead as it stood up. It lashed out and caught Thol in the arm with its razor like claws. He was lucky it wasn't his staff arm because it attacked again and he just barely had time to bring his weapon up. Tor saved him from a painful blow when he charged in the next second and caught the vampire with his silver sword. The thing howled in pain and returned to its mist state only to reappear in behind Valon.

"Look out!" Keza yelled. He threw his weapon at the vampire in the same instant that Valon ducked. The knife sunk in up to the handle and the vampire howled again. It was snarling in rage by now and was becoming a difficult target to hit.

Valon took the brunt of its next attack as he was still trying to get up and couldn't defend himself. Melira cast a second harm undead spell on it which caused the vampire to cringe long enough for Valon to get away. He was badly wounded though and wouldn't be able to fight anymore. Keza, being still unarmed, dragged him to safety out of the immediate fighting area.

Goro tried his luck next with an attack from behind. His attack worked for the first few moves before the vampire struck back with blows of its own and threw him across the room. Thol prepared to cast his high-level fire spell as Tor kept the thing occupied. Melira was busy trying to get both Valon and now Goro healed enough to see them through the fight, so she was unable to cast another harm undead spell.

Tor took a nasty blow to his chest, which tore open his armor and the skin underneath. Thol used this opportunity to unleash his fire spell. The vampire was severely wounded, but still not finished. The others still being down, however, forced Thol to fight the thing without magic. He gave the thing a blow to the arm that would have probably broken a normal persons arm, but the attack just seemed to anger the thing even more. Thol took a claw to the neck and another to the shoulder, which caused him to double over slightly. The vampire used this to his advantage and gave him a devastating uppercut that sent him sprawling to the floor.

Keza had been sneaking around trying to blind-side it and used the creature's distraction with Thol to his advantage. He rushed in and tore his knife out of the vampire where it had been embedded from the throw. Bleeding profusely now, the vampire seemed to droop as it stood. Tor was up a moment later and attacked with almost reckless abandon. Keza also attacked every time the creature seemed to get the upper hand. Between the two of them, the severely injured vampire soon fell when Tor ran his sword through its heart.

The Creature seemed to almost explode in its death. Tor, exhausted, slumped to the ground. His armor was totaled and he was having difficulty breathing due to the wound in his side. Tor looked over to his comrades. Thol was just now coming to from the vampire's last blow. His nose was bloodied and possibly broken but he seemed to be more concerned with the wound on his neck. Melira was doing her best to calm him and was casting spells to try and get him healed. Goro was just a little dazed now and was helping Valon to his feet. Even after Melira's assistance, he still looked like he was cut to ribbons from when he was on the floor.

With everybody able to walk again, they opened the door that Goro had found just before the vampire attacked. The hallway on the other side led them to a dead end with a room that looked like it was only recently dug out of the wall. The room contained only a large stone plate and a jewelry rack. On the rack was a pendant with a large ruby centered in it.

Tor stepped up to the pendant. "What's this?" he asked, reaching to take it.

"Don't touch that!" Thol yelled. His friend stopped his hand and looked at him with a questioning look. "It could be cursed. Let me look at it first."

Tor stepped aside to let Thol see it. He passed his hand over the pendant as he always does when scanning things.

"Well?" Tor asked.

"Well it's not cursed but it's definitely more then just a silly piece of jewelry. Melira. Come here and tell me what you think," Thol said.

She walked up to the pendant and scanned it. Unlike Thol, she placed a hand on each side instead of waving one over top. She looked thoughtful for a moment. "I think there's a fear spell infused with it, but there's something else to it that's making it difficult for me to tell. Thol, is there black magic in it?"

"Yes. How could you tell?"

"Its white magic aura is hazy."

Thol scanned it again and frowned with displeasure. "Great. Another old relic with both schools of magic in it," he muttered almost to himself.

"What do you mean another one, Thol?" Melira asked.

"The explosives we picked up at Coneria were created with a white and black magic spell," he said. He passed his hand over it again. "A confusion spell. That's what's making your fear magic so hazy." He finally decided that it was safe to touch so he took it down. "Hmph. It figures," he said, looking at the relic with disgust.

"What?" Tor asked.

"It's only an artifact object."

"What's an artifact object?" Keza asked.

"It's a certain type of magical object. You can draw out the spell contained in it and cast it on something," Thol said. He looked at Melira. "Did you ever learn about magical objects?"

"Yes, but I never really learned all that well," she said, seemingly ashamed.

"Can you use it?" Tor asked.

"Of course. We can all use it. One of the nice things about artifact objects is that you don't have to be a mage to use them. They also don't require any instruction in how to use them. The skill comes naturally to the wielder." Thol scratched his face, again thinking that he should shave soon and pondered what to do with it. He eventually handed it to Valon. "Here. I already have enough pendants on me to fry a giant."

Valon took it wordlessly and put it on. "A most peculiar sensation," he commented after it was on.

"That would be the pendant telling you how to use it. I wouldn't try it myself, not until we knew what it does," Thol said. He turned to Melira. "Before you ask, I gave it to him because it could be dangerous and I'm sure he would agree that it's better for him to carry it then you."

"Indeed it is," Valon said.

"What makes you think I was going to even ask?" she said, with a slight smile.

"The look on your face when I handed it to Valon. You looked a little confused."

Her smile faded and was replaced by a slight frown. "I'll get you for that one of these days," she said with mock fierceness.

"Actually, we're even now."

"How do you figure?" she asked, the smile back on her face again.

"Simple. Back in Elfland you got sarcastic with me. I said I'd get you for that one and I just did. We're even."

"I don't mean to be a spoil sport, but if you two are done then I think we should give some though about our next move," Tor said.

The all unconsciously gathered around the large stone plate on the floor. It was made out of black stone and had strange runes inscribed all over it.

"Do either of you recognize this?" Valon asked, referring to the runes.

They both shook their heads. 

Thol tapped his staff on it experimentally. The noise it made sounded muffled. "There's definitely something weird about this stone," he said. He scanned the stone and recoiled, swearing loudly.

"Thol! What is it?" Goro asked, concerned about his reaction.

"That thing is eviler then the vampire was! I couldn't even tell what kind of magic is in it."

Melira was about to scan it herself, but Thol stopped her.

"I wouldn't do that. It was almost too much for me to handle and you're a lot more delicate then I am," he said.

"So what do we do now?" Keza asked. "The Earth Orb is supposed to be in this cave and we've run out of paths."

"We could go and see that sage the townspeople were talking about. The vampire had to have been afraid of him for a good reason after all," Valon said.

"Yes, but then there's the problem of the Titan. Didn't the villagers say he was insane or something?" Goro said

"Possessed," Valon corrected. "The villagers told me that the Titan is usually a benign creature and welcomes visitors."

Melira suddenly thought of something. "Thol," she said.

"Yes?"

"Something like the Titan, what would you say it would do if it was confused and afraid?"

Thol frowned in thought. "I'd say it would probably start attacking things like it has been. What are you getting at?"

"You said that there is a confusion spell infused with the pendant. I said that there is fear spell infused in it. Do the words 'confusion' and 'fear' ring a bell?"

He stared at her for a moment and then laughed. "You're brilliant! Why didn't I think of that?"

"What are you two babbling about?" Keza asked, confused.

"The answer has been right in front of us the whole time," Thol began.

The others looked down at the stone.

"No, I didn't mean literally. That silly ass pendant," he said, pointing at it where it hung from Valon's neck. "The vampire used it to make the Titan go berserk. All we have to do is take the pendant to the cave and reverse the spell."

"How do we do that?" Tor asked.

"What an artifact object can do, it can also undo. Come, let's go see Sage Sarda," Thol said finally. With that he lead them out of the room and off to the Titan's Cave. . . .

* * * *


	13. Chapter Thirteen: The Rot of the Earth

Chapter Thirteen: The Rot of the Earth

The trip to the Titan's cave took the rest of the day and all of the next. They camped outside the cave after they decided to wait until the morning before confronting the Titan.

They sat around the fire doing various things. Thol and Melira were finishing off the spellbooks they bought in Melmond. Keza was counting the gil he had in his pouch, taking his time about it. Valon sat examining the pendant beyond what he had done earlier while still in the Earth Cave. Goro, as always, was meditating.

Tor was the odd one out. He sat for a while watching the others. Thinking he might go to sleep a little early, he suddenly remembered the gift that Princess Sara had given him the night before they left Coneria. He took out the small, rune engraved instrument, a lute, and looked it over carefully.

Thol glanced up from the book he was currently reading and spotted the instrument. "Please don't tell me you're going to play that thing."

"I might give it a try," Tor said. He looked at it for a moment longer then began to play. The song he played was so stunningly beautiful that the others around the fire stopped what they were doing to watch him play. The sound coming from the instrument seemed to have almost a magical feeling to it.

After he had finished, there was a moment where no one said anything.

"Tor, I take back everything I've ever said about you. That was amazing," Thol said.

"Truly," Goro added, slipping back into his meditative state.

The journey trough the cave in the morning was slightly unpleasant. The fungus on the cave walls emitted a sickly green light that made the interior of the cave even worse. There was an eerie silence in the cave that made them all jumpy.

"Are you sure you know how to use that thing?" Keza asked nervously.

"Yes. The pendant went through the procedure thoroughly. I assure you, I'll get it right the first time," Valon replied.

Thol was stalking around in the lead, cautiously looking around for the Titan. He thought he felt a slight tremor in the ground, but he never said anything.

It was another fifteen minutes before they knew that the Titan was near. A bestial roar came echoing through the cave just ahead of them.

"Valon! Get up here now! As soon as that thing rounds the corner, use the pendant!" Thol yelled over the racket that the Titan was suddenly making.

The red mage walked up and stood beside Thol. They both waited as the noise increased.

"How long will it take to activate that thing?" Thol asked as they stood there.

"A few seconds."

"Can you time it so that as soon as it rounds the corner the artifact will work?"

"I might be able to stall the spell. I've done it with normal spells on a few occasions."

"Alright. Just be careful. The Titan for all intensive purposes is invincible and I don't really want to get into a wrestling match with one."

Valon nodded and began to activate the spell. Thol was able to follow along until he started the spell delay chant. He had personally never used the trick, so he had no idea how it worked.

The noise grew louder and Thol turned to Valon. "I hope you don't miscalculate the delay. It's getting closer."

A few seconds later, the Titan broke through the wall in front of them. "Valon! Cast the damned spell!"

"I can't! The delay will be too long!"

"Do it anyway!" he said. He cast a quick lightning spell at the large creature that was quickly shambling toward him. "Tor! Get up here! I can't hold this thing back myself!"

Tor was already rushing past him however. He met the Titan with a clash as the creature brought its massive fist down on him. Tor managed to bring his shield up at the last second. He took a stab at its leg while as he struggled under the force of the blow and his sword just scraped off it.

Thol had been busy casting a modified lightning spell that drained him of his remaining level one magic. The area around the Titan darkened slightly as the energies from the spell gathered. It was suddenly struck from all around it by a hail of lightning bolts, which managed to daze the great beast enough for Tor to get back on his feet.

Valon finally decided it was time to release the spell. Nothing happened for a few seconds, and then suddenly a bright red light leapt forth from the ruby pendant and streaked toward the Titan's head. It collided with the things forehead and seemed to embed itself into its skull. In a few seconds, the beam of light had completely disappeared. The Titan started thrashing about and holding its head as soon as the beam had struck. It stopped suddenly and looked around, seemingly confused.

It looked at them and then specifically at Thol.

Thol was a little startled when a voice suddenly echoed in his head.

_The madness is gone. I thank you, little creature_, the voice said.

Figuring that if it could send him thoughts he could also read them, he spoke in his head as well. _Your thanks are well received, great Titan. Go in peace. The vampire that gave you the madness has been slain_.

The Titan grunted in farewell and slowly lumbered off deeper into its cave.

"We can go now," Thol said, starting off into the cave.

They neither seen nor heard the Titan again as they passed through the cave. They were all relieved when they finally exited the cave.

"Well that was exciting," Keza commented sarcastically.

"What did it say to you, Thol?" Melira asked.

"Couldn't you hear it to?"

"I heard it, but I couldn't understand the language it was using."

Thol thought about that for a moment then it struck him. "That's because he was speaking in the language of black magic. I'm so used to it I didn't even notice at the time," he explained. He cleared his throat a bit and responded to her question.

"Oh. Well that's nice," she said with a little smile.

It took them a full day to work their way around the first mountain. They had just started to swing south when they stopped to call it a night.

They were doing their usual things as they sat around the fire when Valon raised a question.

"What should we do about this pendant?"

"Can't we just keep it in case we need it later?" Keza asked.

Thol frowned. "No. It's a dangerous item. Destroy it," he said calmly.

"What?!" Valon exclaimed. "Do you realize how much this is worth, both in money and knowledge?"

"It doesn't matter. If it falls into the wrong hands, they could significantly harm society. Think what would happen if the king of Coneria was being manipulated by it."

The others raised a few more objections, by Thol eliminated them right away. They eventually agreed that the pendant had to be destroyed. None of them expected what happened when they tried, however.

Thol had only just begun to gather his energy when the pendant lashed out and glowed an angry red. Thol was send flying across the clearing by a reddish bolt magic. The others rushed to help him up, Thol swearing loudly at the object the entire time. When Thol had finally regained his composure, Valon asked him what happened.

"I didn't take into consideration the possibility that it could protect itself," he said brushing the dirt off him. He frowned and went to pick up the pendant. The pendant started glowing as her approached it and he could feel its energies build up. He stopped and turned to Valon. "It's not going to even let me near it now. You go pick it up." He sighed then. "When we're done here I guess we'll have to go to Crescent Lake. The Circle of Sages will be able to tell us what to do with it."

They finally reached Cave Sarda in the afternoon of the next day. The direct interior looked much like Matoya's cave had, as did his actual living quarters. Sarda was dressed in the usual robes of a sage, his particular robes having a bluish mode to them.

"And so you have finally arrived, Light Warriors.  Your presence here tells me that you have freed the Titan from the vile curse wrought by the Vampire.  I thank you for that as the gentle beast is my neighbor as well as my friend," the aged man said as they entered the room.

"You knew we were coming," Keza stated.

"Yes.  I have been blessed with the vision even as the great Lukahn had been all those years ago.  I have for you an item that had been placed in my family's care for over millennia."  Having said all that, the sage stood from where he was sitting and strode over to an ornate rack where a mystical looking staff was hung.  He took it down and moved back toward them.

Valon saw the object and finally recognized just who he was.  "You're the Staff Bearer," he said simply, stating the obvious.

"Indeed, Beholder.  I had not understood the purpose or significance of my inheritance until only a few years ago."  He handed it to Thol who could instantly feel the weapons intense power.

"Tell me, Sarda.  What is it that we are to do with this?" Thol asked him.

"I have seen the plight that currently bars the progress of your quest.  The Unholy Plate of Evil rests now as you know in the Cave of the Earth, completely obscuring the path to the Orb.  This staff was crafted from the very same material that composes the Altar of the Earth, where the Orb has sat since its creation.  Blessed by an ancient Lefeinish priestess to combat an evil being long since destroyed, this holy staff will negate the Plate of Evil's very existence."

"And you're sure the Earth Orb rests somewhere below this plate?" Valon asked.

"As certain as you are standing here," Sarda replied.

"Why does it seem that we're suddenly receiving all these magical artifacts?  First it was the crown and the crystal, then the pendant, now a super charged staff?" Thol wondered aloud.

"The forces of evil are powerful, much more so then any one of you," the sage told him.  "The artifacts that you are collecting help to balance the two forces.  You are also united in your quest, whereas your enemy is divided evening things out even more."

"is there anything else you can tell us about our quest?  The prophecy gets a little vague from this point on," Valon explained.

"I'm afraid all that I can tell you is that you must go to Crescent Lake. Lukahn himself will direct you from there."

Thol nodded. "Right. That's more or less what we had in mind anyway, but its nice to have some confirmation."

It took them only three days to get back to the Cave of the Earth. With the vampire gone, most of the undead monsters had vanished so they were left with only the caves natural monsters to deal with. They passed trough the vampire's room and once again gathered around the evil stone plate on the floor.

Thol immediately felt the stone plate try to repel the staff which he had slung across his back. "Well," he said, taking the staff in his hands. "Let's see what this thing can do." He scanned the staff for any intrinsic magical spell and found none. Unable to think of an alternative, he wound up and smashed the staff down on the plate as hard as he could. He could feel the tremendous transfer of energy as the staff fought to dispel the evil magic in the stone. This taking only and instant, the now uncursed slab shattered with a great flash of light.

When they could all see again, they all looked around and stood in awe of the force of the enchantment. There were pieces of the slab embedded so far into the wall that it was likely that they'd never come out.

Thol became aware of the fact that the staff had lost most of its magical energies. He came to the conclusion that the staff was blessed for the specific reason of removing that plate and let it go at that. The staff still had some magical power and was constructed fairly well, so he discarded his worn out staff that he bought from Melmond and decided to use that instead.

There was a set of stairs carved into the earth that had been hidden by the stone plate. Like the room itself, the carved stairs looked relatively recent. Tor descended first, warily taking each step. The others followed him in short order.

It was most definitely darker in the next level then it had been on previous levels. Tor was forced to light a torch this time. The torch light revealed a man made maze similar to the above levels, only again more recent the the initial levels of the cave. They started running into more monsters then they had previously. It was obvious from their first battle that the creatures in the lower levels were going to be more of a challenge.

After having to double back many times, they finally found another staircase leading downward. Tor took the lead again as they descended.

If it was even believable, it was darker still on the next level, so much so that it seemed like the darkness was trying to smother the light from the torch. The air about the level made them all uneasy. Thol sensed that there was something seriously wrong. He doubled back to where Melira was walking and drew her aside.

"You can sense it too, right?" he asked in a quiet voice.

"I think we all can," she replied, also speaking low.

"Yes, but there's something else wrong here. You remember what happened when I scanned the stone plate?"

"Yes."

"Well I don't even have to scan the area to feel the evil reek of this place. I'm afraid to even try to scan anything down here."

She paused as if in deep thought. "Yes. I know what you mean. I can feel it now too." She shuddered at the feeling. "What's doing it, Thol? Is it even possible?"

"I don't know what it is. I don't think we should tell the others. There's no reason to alarm them." He noticed that she was trembling. "Are you alright?" he asked with a concerned look on his face.

"I'm scared, Thol. Nothing should be that evil. What if we can't stop it?"

"We'll stop it. I promise you." He took her hand to comfort her and started to catch up to the others.

The thing took them by surprise. They had just taken a left turn and the creature had come from the right path. Thol was the first to react as he had heard the thing moving. He quickly let go of Melira's hand and whipped his staff around to protect the two of them. He took a shot at it and was able to get a good look at what was attacking them.

The thing looked vaguely human in shape, but instead of being composed of flesh and bone, it appeared to be made of the earth itself.

Thol's swing connected solidly with the things shoulder. The blow seemed to damage it more then it should have. He understood the staff's remaining power now. It was blessed with holy earth magic and would seriously harm unholy earth creatures.

The others came rushing in then and started to attack. Tor in his usual fashion started hammering on the thing with his sword. He seemed to be doing the most damage to the creature after Thol. He eventually managed to sever the things arm which fell to the ground and degenerated into a pile of dirt. Thol and Tor both noticed that the arm which was severed was on the same side as the shoulder Thol hit with the staff. They nodded at each other and started coordinating their attacks. Thol would first strike with his staff, and then Tor would jump in with his sword and damage the area even more. The others were awed by how well the two of them fought together.

Thol was finally able to strike the creatures head which allowed Tor to finish it off. The things head rolled off and turned into a pile of dirt as the rest of it had when removed. Thol noticed that the things body continued to move and had not fallen apart like its head. He knew why a second later. The thing attacked Tor while his back was turned and had thrown him solidly into the wall. The thing had not been defeated at all by the removal of its head.

As the thing continued to lumber forward to attack them, Thol didn't even stop to think about it as he raised his hands. He unleashed his strongest fire spell right in front of the thing and knew instantly he had forgotten to do something.

It was his infrared vision. That was something he could turn on and off at will and he had forgot all about it in his haste to kill the monster, which was now melted down to a pool of mud. He let out a pained cry and covered his eyes with his hands, stumbling backward away from the still burning flames.

"Thol! What is it?" Melira asked, steadying him as he stumbled into her.

"Forgot to turn off my damned infra vision," he replied. His eyes were in an incredible amount of pain, but he took his hands from his eyes anyway. "I can't see," he declared.

Melira cast a spell on him after a moment.  Thol blinked and was amazed to find that he could see again

"How did you do that?" he asked, his voice filled with wonder.

"It's a simple level two spell, Thol. Didn't you know about it?"

"Do I look like I spend my days memorizing white magic spells?" he asked sarcastically.

"If you two are done, I suggest we move along before another one of those things shows up," Keza said. The others could clearly hear the uneasiness in his voice.

In a short time, they found a room. Thol could tell even before the door was opened that the room was the source of the evil he felt throughout the cave.

Inside there was an unholy light illuminating the area. The light was coming from an orb set in the center of the room.

"The earth orb!" Tor exclaimed as he started forward to take it.

"Wait!" Thol yelled, stopping his friend. "Something isn't right. Be careful."

They approached the orb cautiously, staying alert for anything out of the ordinary. Thol happened to glance down at the floor and noticed the mist. It was different from the mist of the vampire, but it had the same feel to it.

"There's something here," he said quietly, almost to himself.

Tor was only a few meters away from the orb when suddenly the ground in front of it erupted and drove him back. A creature that could only be described as an undead corpse rose from the ground and glared at the six of them with crimson eyes.

"Seek not to gain this Orb of the Earth, lest your very souls be the forfeit. Turn back now, foolish humans," the thing rasped.

Tor stepped forward and spoke to the creature. "Here me, foul one. We are the Light Warriors and we seek to purge your vile influence from this wondrous land. Know that we will not retreat and that we will destroy you without mercy."

The thing began making a hideous noise that they could only conclude to be a laugh. It unnerved even Tor, who was usually unshakable. "Fools! I am Lich, Fiend of the Earth! You cannot stop me! I'll kill you all and you'll join my army of undead which will then rise to the surface and swarm the lands, making my rule of the Earth absolute!"

With that, the ground all around them broke apart as zombies and other undead monsters rose from the ground. Thol was thrown to the ground away from Melira, who had to back away or be swarmed under by the countless undead. Thol cursed loudly and was forced to take a swing at one of them while he was still on the ground. The zombie fell to pieces from the force of the blow and gave him enough time to get up.

Tor began hacking a path through the wall of undead the stood between him and the Lich. He could see Valon a little ways behind him also cutting a path. The wall of undead was little more then an annoyance to the two of them as they were slow and could be kept back with their swords.

Keza and Goro had been backed into a corner and while they weren't able to get out, they were able to keep the swarm back.

Thol was stuck in the middle of everything, swinging for all he was worth. He had lost sight of Melira and started cursing loudly until he realized that he was wasting his breath. After one particularly nasty blow he gave to a zombie, the staff snapped in two. He stood there looking at it for a second confounded when one of the undead grabbed him from behind. He grabbed the thing in anger and stabbed it with the jagged end of the remaining bit of his staff and threw the thing into a crowd of its kin. Not having a weapon to fight with any longer, he regretfully resorted to using magic. He hadn't wanted to so early in the fight, but he had no choice.

He unleashed a medium level fire spell that cleared the area around him and gave him a chance to look around. He had just turned to the right when a bright flash of light cleared a second group of undead. In the center stood Melira, who had also lost her weapon at some point. She noticed him and smiled at him. She was breathing heavy from the fighting and Thol winced when he noticed that she was bleeding.

"Are you alright?" he asked as he neared her.

"Yes. I'll be fine. It's not deep," she said. They looked over at the others who were still fighting with the undead. "We have to help them."

"Right. Save your high level spells for Lich. We're going to need them," Thol replied.

Keza and Goro were just about to make another charge at the wall of creatures when a combined blast of fire and harm undead blew them all away. The two of them joined Thol and Melira as they advanced on the last group of undead that was standing between them and the now shrieking Lich.

Noting that Valon and Tor where in the middle of everything, Melira asked a question. "How are we going to get them all, Thol? We'll hit them as well."

"Watch and learn," he said simply as he began chanting. He modified the spell a little and three separate streams of fire tore through the ranks of undead, just barely avoiding the two Light Warriors in the process. There were only a few undead left standing and Tor quickly took care of them.

"Now the real fight starts," Thol said under his breath as he began casting his strongest fire spell.

The Lich howled in anger as its minions were destroyed. Tor, being the closest to the fiend, found himself the outlet to the things rage. Try as he might, Tor was hopelessly out matched for speed, its fury fueling its already supernaturally enhanced agility. Despite his disadvantage, Tor was able to score a blow, albeit a glancing one, which unfortunately left him wide open for a counter attack. The Lich more then willingly exploited this opening and tossed him across the room where he connected solidly with the unyielding stone wall.

The Lich howled again, this time in triumph, but its cry was cut short as it was blasted with Thol's fire spell. With a shriek of pain, it turned its eyes to Thol, who was even now beginning another spell. The Lich started forward to crush its adversary when Goro appeared in front of it and unleashed a barrage of fists and feet at the thing. The Lich moved to strike at its newest target, but Goro ducked out of the way and was hit with a high powered harm undead spell from Melira. Keza and Valon attacked the things flanks as soon as the spell had faded in an attempt to confuse the thing. The ploy worked and caused the Lich to thrash about trying to hit anything possible until it was stopped by a second fire spell from Thol.

Tor was just now coming too and was trying to clear his head. Thol noticed this and nodded to himself. _If we keep this up, the fiend will be finished in no time_, he thought as he began to cast his third and final high level fire spell. He didn't even feel it gather its energy.

The Lich suddenly howled in utter insanity and unleashed a fire spell of its own on the five of them. Thol and Melira were lucky as she had just cast a second harm undead spell that canceled out most of the spell headed in their direction. The flames that did make it through were absorbed mostly by Thol who had just enough warning time to shield Melira. The other three took the full force of the blast and were wounded badly from it.

Thol struggled to his feet and looked up at the charging Lich. He turned his head to Melira and yelled to her, "Cure then quick! The two of us can't hold this thing off!" That being said, he cast a weak fire spell at it to keep it back.

Melira reached for the pendant Thol gave her and focused her magic. Even with the pendant, they three of them had to struggle to their feet.

Tor, who had avoided the spell altogether, attacked it again, this time from behind. In an amazing display of agility, the Lich spun about and caught his sword arm as it was descending, lifting him clear off the ground. He would have been thrown across the room again if it weren't for Goro who lunged at the things legs as he was getting up, despite the horrible burns which covered his left side. Lich toppled over and was forced to let go of Tor and was immediately attacked again by Keza and Valon.

The Lich lashed out at them all, driving them back and getting to its feet in an instant.

Thol noticed a particular glowing about the Lich's ribs that he had noticed before and he finally realized what it meant. "Melira! Anti-Fire, now!" he yelled, getting ready to cast his own fire spell.

Again utilizing her pendant, Melira cast an Anti-Fire spell to protect them all. She managed to cast it just in time as the Lich unleashed its spell. The spell rebounded harmlessly off of the magic shield, confusing the Lich. Tor rushed in, seizing the moment, and delivered a crushing blow with his sword.

"Move!" Thol yelled at them as he hurled his last level five fire spell at it. Empowered with the magic of the pendant, the Lich was heavily damaged from the spell, but it also left Thol exhausted. That being the case, he wasn't ready when the Lich bowled Goro and the others out of its way and charged at him. The Lich didn't even bother to stop when it reached him and drove them both directly into the wall. Thol groaned and tried to clear his head enough to cast a spell.

"Thol!" Melira yelled as they crashed into the wall. She cast a quick Harm Undead spell on it to distract it and found the things attention focused on her now. With a look of total fear in her eyes, she turned to flee. The Lich was faster and was able to strike her with its rotting clawed hand before she could get away however. She cried out in pain and was thrown to the floor.

"No!" Thol cried weakly. He tried to raise his arm to cast a spell, but he had nothing left. His arm fell uselessly to the floor as his vision clouded over and he slipped into unconsciousness.

Tor and Goro has regained their footing and lunged at the creature before it could do any more damage to Melira. The two of them worked in tandem in an attempt to keep the thing off balance, their attacks more defensive then offensive. Two daggers suddenly appeared in the Lich's chest, courtesy of Keza who was still down on his knees, Valon just getting up behind him. The red mages contribution to the attack came seconds later as the Lich was blasted by a fire spell. It seemed as though they had regained the upper hand again until Tor was thrown across the room again. He hit the wall and landed on the ground awkwardly. He didn't get up this time.

Goro fought for his life with the thing as it started emitting a sickly yellow glow. He suddenly found himself being propelled backward as the Lich cast a lightning spell on him at close range. He landed and tried to stand, but his nervous system was in a state of extreme shock from the spell.

The Lich focused on the last two of them now, glowing yellow again. Valon quickly set up an Anti-Lit spell and just for good measure he cast Anti-Fire and Anti-Ice. The Lich's spell again rebounded harmlessly around the room. Keza noticing that Tor had still not got up drew his own short sword and approached the Lich. Valon drew his sword as well and followed him, both approaching cautiously.

Discarding any sense of caution itself, the Lich charged at them. They stood their ground until the last second and both dived to the side as the Lich crashed by, attacking it as it struggled to change directions. Keza managed a hard swing to the things spine that bit in farther then he expected. The Lich actually screeched in response showing its first signs of weakening. The two of them attacked mercilessly, Valon throwing in a spell here and there, and the Lich began to slow. Finally, after what seemed like hours of fighting, the Lich staggered back and collapsed a few feet from the orb.

"I will not let you have the Orb!" it yelled at them. "Even though I am defeated, I will take the Orb down with me!" It reached out with its cadaverous hand to take the glowing sphere. Keza and Valon rushed forward to try and stop it, but they both knew that there wasn't enough time.

Just as the Lich was about to grab the Orb, Tor came from the shadows with his sword plummeting down towards the outstretched arm of Lich. There was a sickening crack from the impact, the arm being completely severed. The Lich screamed in both horror and outrage and rose to strike at Tor with its remaining arm. Tor was quicker this time, his reaction caving in the things rotting rib cage with his armored boot.

The Lich fell back once again and began to tremble violently. Tor stood watching it in confusion. A strange sound began to issue forth from the wounded creature and it began to glow.

"Master!" it screamed, "have mercy!" With a sudden surge of light, the Lich exploded into nothingness causing the three standing Light Warriors to shield their eyes. Tor being so close and still hurting from being thrown into the wall was forced to his knees.

When they could see again, there wasn't a trace of the fiend. They stood for a moment not moving, taking in the significance of what just happened.

"So that's the end of it then," Tor said, struggling for breath.

Valon stepped toward the orb. "No. The Orb is still corrupted. It sits right now on an altar of darkness," he was explaining as he stepped up to the orb. Keza and Tor joined him in front of the orb. "Back there," he said pointing at a mossed over version of the altar the Orb was currently sitting on. "The Altar of the Earth. We have to put it on there." Valon reached out to take the Orb. When his fingers touched it, it emitted a bright flash of light and began to glow a greenish color. It also began making a peculiar noise.

"Does that mean we're doing something right?" Keza asked, referring to the orb's sudden animation.

"I would assume so," Valon replied, gazing at the orb in wonder. "To think this small sphere has all the power of the earth contained within." He shook his head as if to clear it. "Come. We must return it to its rightful place." He stepped around the now crumbling altar of darkness and toward the other one, Keza and Tor following close behind. They stopped once again in front of the altar.

"I guess this proves it then?" Tor said cryptically.

"Proves what?" Keza asked.

"That we really are the Light Warriors," he replied.

"Did you ever doubt it?" Keza asked.

"Honestly, I thought it was a little to strange to be true, but I guess I have to accept it now," he replied.

"There is no one else it could have been," Valon added. "It has to be the six of us or the world would perish."

"So if one of us is to die?" Keza asked.

"Then we would surly fail. The prophecy clearly states this before it even state who the Light Warriors will be."

"Then lets not disappoint the prophecy," Tor said. "Replace the Orb, Valon."

Valon slowly placed the Orb on the altar. When he removed his hands, the glowing from the Orb suddenly swelled to immensity, the force of it shaking the entire room and quite possibly, the earth itself. . . .

* * * *

Somewhere far to the north in a sunken temple, something evil stirred. It could hear the earth's exhalation and could feel its shaking. It knew that the Orb of the Earth had been freed.

"The Lich has been defeated. The earth is free again," it spoke in a gurgly psychic voice.

"That much is obvious. We can all feel the earth rejoice. Steps must be taken to ensure the Light Warriors do not get the chance to free the other Orbs," responded a voice that was as much a growl as it was anything else.

"You worry too much. They can't get to the northern continents and if they come here I'll deal with them myself," interjected a female voice.

"You are a fool, Kary. The Lich said the same thing and look what it got him. Even your volcano can't protect you from the Light Warriors," said the growling voice.

"Lich was a blundering idiot. I am much stronger then he ever was," Kary replied.

"You are nothing, fire-woman. Even the lowliest of creatures I command are more powerful then you," said the gurgly voice.

"Why don't you crawl out of that watery tomb of yours and we'll see who's stronger?" Kary retorted hotly.

"Enough!" roared the growling voice. "Master would have you both flayed alive if he were still here and I'm close to doing so myself! Focus on the Light Warriors!"

Kary snorted in annoyance and the gurgling voice was silent.

"We cannot take any chances right now, Kary. We must do everything in our power to stop the Light Warriors. We need only to kill one of them and we have won. Much better to let the lesser creatures deal with them then risking ourselves in foolish attempts."

"Fine. Do whatever you want then," Kary said.

"They will be taking to the sea in a short while to head to that pitiful Crescent Lake. I will dispatch my creatures to deal with them," the gurgly voice said.

"Excellent. Sink them to the bottom of the ocean. Kary," said the growling voice, "prepare for their coming in case his creatures fail. Use whatever means necessary."

"It shall be done," replied Kary. He physic presence left as she left to make preparations.

"Will she be able to stop them?" asked the gurgly voice.

"It is unlikely. The little black mage alone could probably defeat her at this point. I think that you should also begin preparations for their coming."

"But Kary spoke the truth. They cannot reach the northern lands. We are perfectly safe."

"Fool! I have seen the prophecy myself! The Light Warriors shall come to the northern lands if only to be blessed by that cursed Bahamut! They will find a way to land here. Begin your preparations or I will personally flay you alive."

"At once," the gurgly voice replied. With that, the strange communication ended. . . .

* * * *

The three of them stood for a moment after the shaking had stopped in awe of the shear force involved in the light. Slowly, the moved away from the altar to help their friends.

Goro had worked himself into a kneeling position, his nerves still twitching uncontrollably from the Lich's last spell. "Good work," he said simply as they helped him up. Valon cast a few white magic spells on him that seemed to help with the worst of the spells effects.

They went over to Melira next who was bleeding badly from the Lich's attack. She was thankfully unconscious as she would be in a world of pain if she were awake. Valon examined her for a moment then stood up and sighed.

"How bad is she? Can you help her?" Goro asked.

"I can do only so much in this dank cave. My healing skills don't go far enough to heal her fully I'm afraid. We'll have to get her back to Melmond as soon as we can," Valon replied.

Tor in the mean time had gone to check on Thol who lay in a heap not far away. "I think Thol's in bad shape too. There's blood coming from his mouth."

Valon stopped in mid-spell to look over at Thol. "Internal bleeding. I'm not surprised the way the Lich crashed into him like that. We'll definitely have to hurry back to Melmond now. Both of them need more help then I can provide."

"Is it safe to move them?" Keza asked.

"Melira should be okay to move, but Thol is another story. I'll have to take a closer look at him. If you guys can fashion s litter or two in the mean time it would be a great help," Valon said.

"Right. We'll see what we can do," Tor said. He was gone in the next instant looking for something to make a litter from. . . .

* * * *


	14. Chapter Fourteen: Close Calls

Chapter Fourteen: Close Calls

Thol felt as if he had been asleep for ages. At first he couldn't even open his eyes. The light from the window was too bright. They soon adjusted themselves enough so he could see where he was however.

He opened his eyes a crack and looked around. It was obvious from the start that he was in some sort of bedroom. That meant that they had somehow defeated the Lich and got out of the cave. How, he wasn't too sure. The last thing he remembered before passing out was. . .

"Melira!" he shouted weakly. He tried to rise but the pain of his sudden movement caused him to double over and cry out.

A man entered the room when he spoke and was over to him in an instant. "Easy now! Don't try to get up. You've been hurt badly," he said to him as he held him back.

"Yes, I'm aware of that," Thol said between clenched teeth. "Where's Melira? Is she alright?"

"You need to stay clam, Thollatos. You'll aggravate your wounds if you make sudden movements," the man said ignoring his questions.

Thol looked at the man more carefully. "You're Almus, right?"

"Yes. You remember me I see."

"Yes. Now look Almus. Where's Melira?"

"Valon says that you need to stay in bed for a few more days before you can get up and move around," Almus said, avoiding Thol's piercing gaze.

"Almus," Thol said, becoming irritated.

"And you have to drink this twice a day," Almus said referring to the potion sitting on the table beside the bed.

Thol's eyes narrowed. _One. Two. Three. Four_. . . .

* * * *

Keza and Tor had been discussing the advantages and disadvantages of broad swords over short swords for three hours now. Keza had given up in the end due to Tor's absolute stubbornness on the matter. They had lapsed into silence for the moment as Tor sharpened his sword. Keza had a thought then.

"I think I'll go see how Thol and Melira are doing," he said getting up.

"Right. Let me know when you're done," Tor replied.

"Of course," the other man said, leaving for the clinic portion of the house.

He was there only moments later and noticed that Almus was not in the room like he usually was. Only the old man named Jamos who had let them into the building to see Almus the first time was there. Almus had started working here after he had recovered from his injuries because he still wasn't healthy enough to go back to work as a soldier.

"Where did Almus go, Jamos?" he asked as he neared.

"He went in to check on Thollatos. Your friend seems to have stirred within."

"That's great! Is he-" Keza began to say.

He was interrupted by a thundering detonation coming from inside Thol's room. Almus fled from the room seconds later with a lightning bolt hot on his heels.

"He's gone insane!" Almus yelled as he slammed the door shut behind him, locking it in the process.

"What's the matter with him?" Keza asked.

"Valon says that he must remain in bed for a few more days at least before he starts moving around, but he insists on going to see Melira. He started to get vocal about it but I adamantly refused and told him that he has stay in bed. That's when he started slinging magic around."

A noise came from the door behind Almus. Thol was apparently trying to open the door and was obviously not having any luck as Keza could clearly hear him cursing on the other side of the door.

"You might want to move away from the door Almus," Keza advised.

Almus gave him a strange look, but moved anyway. He was about to ask him about it when the door suddenly exploded in a shower of splinters. Thol stood there sending an icy glare in Almus' direction, he had his fist raised as if to smash the frightened worrior with another spell.

Keza calmly stepped forward. "If you insist on getting up to see Melira then at least allow me to help you there," he said.

Thol fixed him with the same glare he had given Almus, looking for a moment that he would begin a fresh triad of magic casting on Keza but he sighed slightly and allowed himself to be lead to Melira's room.

"She's in here," Keza said as they approached a room. Thol pushed him out of the way and went into the room.

Melira was laying down in the bed in the room. She was obviously not awake. As Thol neared he noticed that she was quite pale, more then she should have been from the wounds he knew she received in the fight with Lich. He looked down at her for a few moments with an unreadable expression on his face. Keza had slowly stepped beside him.

"What's wrong with her?" Thol asked quietly.

Keza hesitated for a moment. "The Lich somehow poisoned her with its attack on her. So far we haven't been able to cure it."

"Have you had a white mage in to see her? They should be able to cure her in no time."

"Valon did his best, but he doesn't know the proper spell for it."

"I said white mage, not Valon."

"No. The few white mages we had in Melmond were killed by the vampire."

"Then why haven't you gone to Elfland to go get one?" Thol said, his voice giving away his irritation.

"The ship is in need of repairs, Thol. It isn't even close to being sea worthy."

"What's wrong with the ships from here? I seen a perfectly good ship at the port when we came here."

"No one knows who owns it. During the confusion surrounding the vampires attack, he might have been killed or seriously injured. I'm sorry, Thol. There's nothing we can do for her right now."

Thol stood there for a moment in silence. He suddenly reached out with his hand and grabbed Keza by the front of his shirt and pulled him toward him with a strength that defied his apparently frail frame and his near crippling injuries.  He didn't even turn his head to look at him.

"Now listen and listen well, thief," he said in a chillingly calm voice. "First you are going back to the Zakonian and rounding up the crew from Provoka. Then, you're going to take them to that derelict ship and have it readied for sail. Once you have completed that, you will come and get myself and Melira and we will board that ship. We will then sail to Elfland as fast as the ship can manage. From there we will take Melira to the Clinic until such time as we track down a competent white mage. After that we can take all the time we want returning to Melmond. Do you understand me, thief?" he finished. He fixed his most deadly gaze on him now just to make sure he understood.

Keza nodded foolishly, his eyes wide with fear. Thol being a mage, he didn't expect him to be so strong and he knew that if he chose to, he could blast him into next week with his magic. This was one time when he wasn't going to fool around.

Thol let go of him and watched him move to leave. Just as he was about to exit the room, Thol added one more comment. "Oh and Keza," he said casually. "If you're not back here within an hour's time you're going to regret the fact that you were born."

Keza left quickly. . . .

* * * *

"Leaving? For where?" Tor asked as Keza rounded up the crew.

"Elfland. Thol's insisting we take the derelict ship over there and get Melira cured. I would have tried to tell him about the legal repercussions of doing so but I'd rather like to stay alive for a few more years at least," Keza explained.

"He's injured. How dangerous can he possibly be?" Tor asked.

Keza gave him a grim look.  "Right now, Tor, I don't think you could even stop him, armor and all."

"Thol's my friend. He'd never do something to hurt me," Tor replied, his voice confident, but his faced betrayed the worry he felt.

Keza just looked at him for a second. "Trust me. You weren't in the room when he started giving orders. If we don't do exactly as he says, he's liable to level the city until we do."

Tor frowned at that. "Is he really that serious about this?" he asked.

"Deadly serious. I don't know if you've noticed or not, but Melira is the most important thing to him right now and neither the laws of the crown nor the gravity of our quest mean anything to him where she's concerned."

Tor stood in though for a moment. "If it's important to him, then it's important to me as well. I will aid him to the best of my abilities," he said with conviction.

"Good. You get this crew to the derelict ship and get ready for sail then. I've got to round up what we'll need to transport Melira to the ship."

"What about Valon and Goro?"

"I'll tell Almus to tell them where we're going. We've no time to go looking for them.  Thol sort of gave me an ultimatum about how much time I'm allowed to take."

"Right. We'll be ready as soon as we can," Tor said as he turned to go round up the crew. . . .

* * * *

Thol was still in the room with Melira. Though he wouldn't admit it to anyone, he was in a lot of pain as a result of his earlier outburst. The pain from his injuries didn't really bother him though. He was in more mental pain for letting Melira get hurt like she was. The poison in her was killing her and it wasn't taking its time about it. Her life force was weakening every hour and at the rate it was going, Thol didn't know if they could make it to Elfland on time.

Earlier he had asked Almus how long he had been out for and he wasn't really too pleased to learn the answer.

_A week. That's too long. I could have had Melira cured by now if I would have woken up earlier_. He wearily closed his eyes and waited for Keza to return.

His wait was not a long one. The thief entered the room again ten minutes later.

"Done already? I figured it would take you a little longer then that to rouse those drunken sailors," Thol commented as Keza rushed into the room.

"Tor's coming with us. He's taking care of the ship while we get Melira ready to be moved."

"Good. Let's get to it then. She doesn't have as much time as I'd like I'm afraid."

They both left the room and Thol started barking out orders to the clinic staff. . . .

* * * *

Despite his injuries, Thol could not just sit and wait for them to arrive at Elfland. Instead he paced the deck and scared the living Hell out of any sailor who happened to get to close. It had been only two days since they had left Melmond and he was already more irritable then he had ever been throughout the whole journey. Melira was showing no signs of improving on her own and Thol's periodic check on her life force showed the same rapid decline as he had detected when he awoke those few days ago. Tor had estimate that at their present speed and if the weather held out, it would take them just under five days to reach Elfland. Thol knew that five days was cutting it very close. By then it may be too late to save her.

Thol sighed heavily and continued to pace the deck. . . .

* * * *

It was the next day that they were attacked. Thol as usual was pacing the deck when a group of bluish creatures crawled over the railing and started toward him. His training in Crescent Lake told him that the creatures were sahags, semi intelligent sea monsters that could breathe out of water for a moderate amount of time and were able to walk on their hind legs, albeit clumsily.

He reacted without thinking and blasted the group with a lightning spell, killing most of them out right. Shouts of alarm started ringing from around the ship. Thol obviously wasn't the only one who was confronted with monsters. Using his old silver staff that Tor had thoughtfully brought over from the Zakonian, he finished off the last two sahags that had survived his lightning spell. Thol grinned rather smugly at his victory until a second group of creatures crashed over the rail. This group included sahags with red scales and a creature that was little more then a mass of feelers and two oddly matching eyes.

He didn't hesitate for one second. He turned and fled, looking for one of the others.

As luck would have it, he ran into Tor only seconds after he had started running. "Tor! I need a little help here!" he yelled as he ran in and cast a lightning spell on the group of monsters Tor was fighting.

The swordsman turned to see the group of monsters trailing Thol and charged at them, sword cutting a path through their ranks. Thol fought beside him, backing up his sword with well timed lightning magic. When it was all finished, Thol was laboring for breathe, his injuries still causing him grief.

"Are you alright?" Tor asked him.

"I'll be alright in a moment or so. I'm still feeling those wounds from Lich," he replied, leaning heavily on his staff. "Go see if anyone is hurt. I'll be there in a minute or so."

Tor nodded and started making a circuit around the ship. He found Keza nursing a wound on his left arm just below deck. Some of the creatures had punched a small hole in the side of the ship which the crew were quickly repairing before they took on too much water.

"Little bastard bit me!" Keza shouted as Tor neared.

"Is it bad?"

"No. It'll heal quickly with proper treatment."

"Did they get to Melira?" Tor asked, worried about their fading comrade.

"No. Though they did try their damnedest to do so. We managed to keep them out without anymore then a bite wound," he said referring to the bleeding incision on his arm.

"Right. I'm going to go check back on Thol. He was pretty winded after that battle."

"Was he hurt?"

"No. He managed to find me just in time."

Keza nodded and began helping the crew fix the hole in the ship as Tor headed back on deck.

Thol had moved from the spot he had been where he left him and was now leaning on the railing, still breathing hard.

"Are you sure that you're alright?" Tor asked.

"I don't know. I can't seem to get my wind back," he replied between breaths.

"I think you should go below deck and rest for awhile. We'll take care of anything that crops up," Tor suggested.

Thol nodded and falteringly started below deck. Tor made sure he made it down stairs before he went to help the crew clean up the mess from the fight. . . .

* * * *

Keza noticed Thol practically dragging himself down the steps and went over to help him.

"What's wrong?" he asked as he helped him down the last few steps.

"Guess I still haven't healed fully. I'm still winded from the fight."

"Valon said that it would probably take awhile before you can fight like you used to. You've had two serious injuries in the last two months and your body is going to take a while to recover from it," Keza told him as he helped him to his room.

"I guess he's right. I didn't know he knew so much about healing."

"He told me that he was planning on becoming a medic before he discovered his interest in prophecy."

"Fascinating," Thol commented as they entered his room. Keza helped him over to the bed and propped his staff up against the wall if he needed it. "Thanks."

"No problem. Just yell if you need anything. I'll be outside keeping watch and probably helping fix the hole in the hull."

"It's not bad I hope."

"No. It's far enough above the water line that we won't take on any more water then we can safely bail out. We'll have it more carefully repaired at North Port."

"Good. I think I'll rest now. I'll see you later."

"Right. Later," Keza replied, leaving the room. He picked up one of the broken boards from the hull and looked at it. _I hope that there's nothing stronger out there in the ocean_, he thought, marveling at the power it took to break the sturdy wood. . . .

* * * *

Thol woke up the next day in world of pain. He promised himself that he would let the others deal with any sort of attack from now on. The short fight from the day before was enough to make it so he could hardly move afterwards. No wonder he was so tired yesterday.

As Tor predicted, they arrived at North Port during the fifth day of traveling and as Thol had predicted, Melira was almost gone. The instant they had docked, Thol started complaining about every little delay, violently at times. They borrowed a carriage from one of the merchants at the port, paying him for the time they used it and promising more when they returned it. The merchant had one of his men go with them just to make sure they brought it back.

The man's name was Koth. After asking why they had rented the carriage from his boss and what exactly was wrong with her, he seemed as worried as any of the others. That gained their respect immediately.

"Can't this damned mule go any faster?" Thol yelled violently.

"We're going as fast as we can, Thol. Just calm down," Keza said.

"Calm down? Do you realize that every minute we waste could cost her life? We don't have time to dally. Give me those," he said, grabbing the reigns from Keza. He snapped them once and the horses took off at a more suitable pace in Thol's view.

"Geez! Everyone, hang on!" Keza yelled, gripping the side of the carriage for dear life.

Thanks to Thol's insane driving, they made it to Elfland in record time. They were met at the edge of town by a few guards who asked why they were in such a rush. Keza quickly told them what was wrong and they quickly ushered them to the castle where she would receive immediate care by the castles wizards.

"I'm sorry, but you'll have to wait outside like everyone else," an elderly mage said to Thol.

"I will not! If you don't let me in there I'll-" Thol began to protest. Tor put his hand on his shoulder and shook his head.

"It's best you stay out here, Thol. You'll just be in the way," Tor said to him.

Thol thought it over for a second and realized that he would indeed just be in the way. "It is for her own good isn't it?" he said in defeat.

Tor just nodded and sat back down. Thol joined him and waited.

Keza talked with Koth while they waited and learned that he had little respect for the man who paid him.

"It's disgusting that he's charging you for the use of the carriage in light of the girl's illness. I'd quit if I had another job to go to, but there's no work these days."

"Indeed. On more then one occasion I've made a worthy attempt at garnering an honest job. There's no growth in the world right now, that's the problem," Keza was saying.

"Perhaps when we have succeeded in our quest, the world can start growing again, in more then one way," Tor said absently as he leaned back in his chair.

"Exactly what is it that you people do anyway?" Koth asked, curious to the meaning behind Tor's statement.

"I don't know how familiar you are with ancient legends, but it seems as though we are the Light Warriors of Lukahn's prophecy," Tor replied.

"So it is true," Koth replied.

"What's that?" Keza said, a little confused by his reply.

"While we were here, all the elves could talk about is that the Light Warriors had come and defeated some dark elf and woke the king. I guess that would be you four," Koth replied.

"Well there's six of us actually, but Thol dragged us out of Melmond so fast that we didn't have time to get the other two. I can understand his haste now, but at the time I was rather confused.  I didn't know she in that bad of shape," Keza said.

"If you would just listen when I speak your life would run much easier," Thol commented as he strummed his fingers impatiently against the small table beside the chair he sat in.

The elderly mage that had banned Thol from the room emerged and stepped toward them. Thol was up in an instant and in front of him.

"Is she alright?" he asked, his voice worried.

"She'll make it through now, but she didn't have much longer. It is a good thing you came when you did. Another hour and there would have been nothing we could have done."

Thol let out the breath he was holding and wearily sank back into his chair. He was quite obviously relieved. "How is she doing right now?"

"She's still unconscious, but her life force has begun to regenerate itself. We figure it will be a week before she is able to walk around again. We suggest that she stay here in the mean time."

"When will she wake up?" Thol asked.

"She should be awake in a few days. Her body needs time to restore the energy it lost."

"Alright. Thank you. You've no idea how much this means to us," Thol said finally.

The old mage excused himself and returned to the room. They sat for a few moments in silence when they had a visitor.

"Light Warriors! I came as soon as I was informed. How is she fairing?" It was Arastari, the king.

"She'll be alright now. Thol's haste got her here just in time from what we've been told," Tor answered.

"That's a relief. I would have come right away, but no one thought to inform me until just a moment ago. What's the diagnostic?" the king asked.

Keza repeated what the old mage had told them.

"Please, I insist that you stay in the castle as our guests for as long as it takes. Anything you need will be at your immediate disposal. We owe you more then we could possibly give you anyway."

"We thank you, Arastari. We will not forget your kindness in out time of need," Tor replied.

Later in the room that was provided for him, Thol sat in a chair and restlessly fidgeted as he tried to read the book he had borrowed from Ukthal, the dwarven innkeeper. Despite the mages words, he was still worried that Melira would have some sort of relapse or something. He tried to read for another ten minutes and gave up. He decided to into the city and walk around.

The guards at the gate inquired as to his destination and offered to send an escort with him but Thol politely declined saying he was only going for a walk. The guards understood and told him to just ask if he needed anything.

His walk took him by the field where he had won the archery contest. There were a few people practicing there at the time but not enough to draw his attention like it had that day. He had just passed a group of people when a voice stopped him.

"Thollatos of Crescent Lake," said a familiar voice from behind him.

Thol spun about to see who had interrupted his stroll. He recognized the elf right away. "Runarel. Still sore about losing the archery contest?" he said, weary of the group of elves he was with.

"Actually, I wanted to congratulate you. I was too stunned at the loss to do so before. I must say, you've made a better elf out of me from my defeat," the archer confessed.

Thol hadn't expected that, but replied unfazed none the less. "I accept your congratulations, Runarel. I'm glad to see you've changed your nature as well. I myself am like that at times and find it more of hindrance than an asset."

"Aye. What brings you back to Elfland? Shouldn't you be out saving the world, Light Warrior?" Runarel asked in a humorous manner.

"Yes, we should, but one off us has taken gravely ill and we had to rush here to save her."

"The white mage," Runarel said, identifying Melira right away. "I pray she is recovering?"

"Yes. We made it just in time. The mages in the castle say that she will be able to walk again in a week."

"I'm glad to hear-" Runarel began.

From the direction of the city gates came a cry of alarm followed by more shouts and yells. An elf ran by shouting something to everyone he could see. Thol stopped him and asked what the matter was.

"Monsters! They are attacking the city! Dozens of them!" the elf said. "You'd better get out of here while you can. The guards won't be able to hold them," he said, then took off to warn other people.

"Looks like I'll have to help them," Thol said, more to himself then to anyone else. "You'd all better do as the man said and take cover," he suggested to Runarel and his pals.

"Now look here! If you think I'm just going to sit back and let my home be invaded you've got another thing coming! We're going with you!" Runarel declared.

"Right. Let's move it then. Those guards aren't going to last much longer by themselves."

The group of them, seven in total including Thol, headed for the city gates and saw what the elf was talking about. A horde of monsters had broken through the gate and where destroying everything in sight. Thol unleashed a spell as soon as they were in sight and Runarel's archers were right behind him with a rain of arrows.

Thol rushed in closer ignoring the fact that he was still injured, removing his staff from where it was slung casually across his shoulder. He sent another spell into the mix and took a swipe at a passing wolf with pure white fur, sending it reeling into a giant of the same color. _What's a frost giant doing here? They live over in the Ryukahn mountain range area_, Thol thought as he battled the things.

He was busy tangling with an ocho, a swamp and river dwelling monster, and didn't see the hydra come up behind him. It wasn't until the thing shrieked in agony that he knew it was there. He knew he would have been in serious trouble had Runarel not shot the thing with three arrows in the time it took him to turn around and notice the thing was there.

Things became bleak as the archers started running out of arrows and were forced to use swords and as the entire world knows, elves are generally terrible in close range combat. They were slowly pushed back into the city and one or two of them started to procure injuries. Thol couldn't hold them all back himself as he still tired quickly. He was seriously considering retreating to the castle for reinforcements.

Moments later, Runarel ran out of arrows and was injured severely by a manticore. Thol was just about to yell at the others to retreat when the castle guard, lead by Tor no less, came crashing into the battle. Also among the troops was Koth who had a sword and was hacking at monsters with the best of them.

Exhausted, Thol let loose his strongest fire spell on a group of frost wolves and frost giants. The battle having moved away from them, Thol collapsed beside Runarel who was doing his best to tend to the wound the manticore had given him.

"You alright?" Thol asked.

"I'll make it. Yourself? You're looking a little winded."

Thol nodded. "Still recovering from previous injuries, but I'll be okay after some rest."

After the castle guard has chased off those monsters which weren't killed, Tor came over to them. "Can't let you out of my sight for a minute can I? Always getting into trouble you are," he said jokingly to Thol.

"Very funny, Tor. Help me get Runarel to the castle," Thol said, slowly getting up.

Back in the castle where they has taken all the wounded, Arastari came to commend them all for their bravery.

"It was nothing really, your majesty," Runarel replied from his bed.

"Aye. Any good man would have done the same," Tor added.

"You have the thanks of Elfland all the same. If any of you ever need anything, just ask and it's yours," Arastari said.

"I think perhaps after we've all had a little time to rest from the fight that we should have a little meeting, Arastari," Thol suggested.

"Of course. First thing tomorrow morning good?" the king asked.

"Yes. That should be good. I think Runarel should attend as well. You might need him later if there are other attacks like this," Thol said.

As was agreed, they met in the king's private meeting room. In attendance was Thol, Tor, Runarel, the regent Arcilmo, the head of the castle guard named Mandamil, and obviously king Arastari.

"Alright Thol, you called for this meeting, perhaps you should start by telling us why," Arastari said.

"Of course. It concerns those monsters that attacked. As you all know I was born in Crescent Lake, so I know what sort of monsters reside around there and the surrounding areas. The monsters that attacked the city all came from the Guru Volcano area," Thol said.

"Guru Volcano? That over a week from here due to the mountains," Arcilimo stated. "Why would even one of the creatures come around here?"

"That's exactly what I was wondering. It would be strange enough for just one of them to come all this way, but a group of them all coming to attack the city? I'm afraid to say it, but the facts are leading me to believe that this wasn't just some random attack," Thol said.

"You're saying someone sent them here?" Arastari asked incredulously.

"His theory does seem to make sense, your majesty," said Mandamil, a towering man even larger then Tor. "For one thing monsters of the variety we saw in the attack rarely ever travel together and never in such numbers. There is definitely something amiss here."

Arastari looked thoughtful for a moment. "I'm afraid my inexperience on the throne has me at a loss gentlemen. What would you suggest I do?"

"For starters, I think the volcano should be checked on, but no sane man would try to get to Guru from Elfland, so when we go to Crescent Lake, we'll check it out while we are in the area."

"I suggest then, your majesty," Mandamil added, "that in the mean time we set a watch on the mountains. I think you should also seriously consider erecting a barricade around the city."

"Yes. I can have my fellow archers patrol the barricade when it is complete, your majesty. We could strike down anything before it even gets here," Runarel replied.

"If you think it is best, then I guess I'd better do that," Arastari said, sadly.

"Something wrong?" Tor asked, noticing his tone.

"It just that we elves are creatures of the forest and by putting up a barricade around the city, I'll be cutting us off from it," he replied.

"Worry not, your majesty," Runarel spoke up. "I speak for all the people of the city when I say that I support your decision and that we would rather lose the forest then lose our lives and the lives of those we love."

"Well spoken, Runarel," Arcilimo complimented him.

"Thank you, my lord."

"You people have helped me so much. How can I ever repay you?" Arastari asked.

"You don't have to," Thol said.  "It's no big deal."

"But what of your injuries? Is it not costing your health?"

Thol shrugged.  "It's our job, your majesty.  Not just being Light Warriors, but our professions, whether it be mage or swordsman.  We're all trained to fight and it's what we're good at.  If we weren't then we'd be sitting behind desks or raising children and the like.  We came to accept the danger involved with the job before we even began, so please understand, you owe us nothing.  We simply do what we have to do."

"I see. Still, if you ever need anything," Arastari said, trailing off.

The meeting from there on revolved around the construction of the Elfland Barricade as it became known as. Within the week, construction of the barricade had begun and was progressing at an impressive rate. They had only to wait and see if their preparations for another attack were warranted. . . .

* * * *


	15. Chapter Fifteen: More Strange Happening...

Chapter Fifteen: More Strange Happenings

Melmond, shortly after the others left for Elfland. . .

Valon had been busy aiding the townspeople repairing the damage done first by the vampire, then by the earthquake that had been a result of the earth Orb being revived. It was nearing dark so he decided to quit for the day, heading back to Irlis' house where they were staying while Thol and Melira recovered from their wounds.

When he couldn't find Keza or Tor, he went looking for Almus. He found him replacing the door to Thol's room ten minutes later.

"Almus," he said as he approached. "Where is everyone? And what happened to the door?" he asked, worried.

Almus spent the next five minutes telling him about Thol's awakening and the others leaving for Elfland. Valon's face paled when he realized that he had failed to diagnose the seriousness of Melira's poisoning.

"I see that I have made a grave error. Perhaps I'd better brush up on my medical training upon the success of our quest," Valon said, his face crestfallen.

"You'd better start working on your excuses now," Almus suggested.

Valon gave him a questioning look.

"From the way he was acting earlier, I'm sure Thollatos is going to want a word with you upon his return and his words tend to be accompanied by lightning bolts when he starts getting angry," Almus explained.

  


Valon became even paler as he realized that Almus was correct. Thol was one of the last people in the world he wanted angry with him. "Perhaps I'd better get thinking," he said gravely.

About an hours later, Goro showed up and noticed that Valon was frowning irritably at the piece of parchment he was hovering over. Goro raised an eyebrow and questioned him as to what the problem was.

"Not now, Goro! I'm trying to save my skin right at this moment!" the normally calm red mage shouted.

Goro turned to Almus to be filled in. After hearing what had happened and the reason he was furiously attacking the piece of parchment, he turned back to Valon and commented, "You'd better hope she lives or Thol's going to kill you regardless of what you say."

"If Melira dies, then we'll have more then just Thol's rage to worry about," Valon managed to say in his rage of thought.

Goro frowned. "What do you mean by that?" he asked, not understanding exactly what he was talking about as he was still struggling with the effects of the Lich's last spell when the others were discussing the subject back in the Earth Cave.

"If one of us dies, we will ultimately fail our quest and the world will perish as a result."

"Why is that exactly?" Goro asked, curious to know more of the prophecy that had lead him to this point.

"Each of us needs to do something before the quest is over. If we fail to do these things then our quest will also fail. That was one of the things stated in the beginning of the prophecy."

"What would happen if one of us dies after their task is complete? Will we still fail?"

"Yes. I do not know the reason for this however. The prophecy simply says this: Beware! For if but one of the Warriors of Light shalt fall before the completion of the Divine Quest, so shalt the powers of Light fail and the world cast into darkness and Chaos, for each hath a task and the tasks of the Warriors of Light are many, and the tasks of the Warriors of Light are One."

"The tasks are many, the tasks are one," Goro repeated with a frown. "That makes no sense, Valon. What does it mean?"

"I know not, save that we have a great many things to do and we must complete them all without losing a member or the planet is finished," Valon said seriously. He had forgotten all about the parchment that he had been slaving over a moment ago as he spoke of the prophecy.

"Do you have any idea what these tasks are?"

  


"Not all of them. The names the prophecy calls us by has something to do with them I figure. I am called 'The Beholder', referring of course to the one who will educate his comrades about the propecy. As I know the prophecy well, it is obvious that one of my tasks, probably my main task, is to instruct you five in the prophecy, to behold it if you will."

"Yes, I see. It does sort of make sense, doesn't it?"

"Indeed. When everything is over, we'll probably find that the entire thing makes perfect sense."

"Unless we fail."

"There is always that of course, but I am confident that we will succeed in the end. Why would the prophecy fail after being right for so long?"

"Good point, but you said that the prophecy is incomplete. Who's to say we aren't destined to fail?"

"I don't know. If we were destined to fail, then I don't think there would have been a prophecy at all. There would be no point to it in that case."

Goro sat thoughtfully for a moment. "You know what I think?" he mused. "I think that we are neither destined to fail or succeed, rather that the prophecy is guiding us to a point in time where our actions will decide whether we succeed or fail. As you said, if we were destined to fail then there would be no need for a prophecy. Wouldn't it be the same if we were destined to succeed?"

Valon took that in and though it through, his eyes widening in realization. "Why, Goro, you are absolutely right. It has to be that way. You're a treasure. You've managed to solve a mystery that I have been working on for years in the space of minutes."

"Perhaps that is one of my tasks."

"I believe it probably is."

The two sat in wonder as the vague prophecy that drove them onward suddenly began to make sense. . . .

* * * *

It had been four days since they had arrived in Elfland. Melira was finally showing signs of waking up which took a load off Thol's mind. Though he had plenty of time to cool down since their departure, he was still seriously considering roasting Valon over an open flame for a few days for his carelessness.

He was nearing the end of the dwarfish book he was reading, leaning on his left elbow as his right one was injured in the last monster attack. The barricade had aided them greatly in repelling the attacks, as did Runarel and his archers. Thol figured that once the barricade was completed, the city would be nearly unassailable.

He sighed as he finished the book and put it down. He had nothing to occupy his time with now that he was done reading it. Thinking that he might ask Arastari if he could borrow an elfish book, he headed for the kings quarters. He was half way there when he changed his mind and decided to go see Melira instead. As he usually did when he went to visit her, he sat in the chair next to her bed and stared at her. As usual, he could only do so for a few minutes before the guilt ate away at him. He couldn't help thinking that it was his fault that she was hurt even though he knew that it could have happened to any of them.

He had stood up and went over to the window to look out over the city. From his vantage point, he could see the work being done on the barricade. They had already, in the four days since they had decided to construct it, encased the entire eastern side of the city and were now halfway done the north section. He had to hand it to the elves. They were good workers.

He had been standing there for maybe ten minutes when a noise behind him stirred him out of his reverie. He spun about and saw that Melira was moving.

"Melira!" he cried out as he rushed back to the bed. He unconsciously took her hand as he reached her bedside.

"Thol?" she said as her eyes focused and she became more aware. "What happened? I feel like I've been asleep for days."

"You have been. You were poisoned when the Lich attacked you. If I hadn't rushed you here as soon as I woke up, you would have died."

"The Lich. Is it. . ." she said, trailing off.

"Yeah. They managed to kill it somehow. I never got a chance to ask them how yet. I've been more worried about you."

She managed a weak smile at that. "How sweet of you," she said softly.

He didn't have a reply for that one.

"How are you doing, Thol? If I remember correctly, you got hurt pretty bad as well," she asked.

"Well I won't be doing any cartwheels for awhile, but I'm okay," he replied. She giggled at that causing his eyebrow to go up. "What's so funny?"

"It's just that I can't imagine you doing cartwheels," she managed to say after getting a hold of herself.

Thol frowned for a second then grinned foolishly, realizing how ridiculous he would look doing a cartwheel. "You're right. I can't imagine it either."

They lapsed into silence for a few seconds, simply looking at each other. Melira finally broke the silence with a question.

"When are they going to let me out of here?"

"Beats me. They had a look at me and said that I shouldn't be up and about yet, let alone fighting monsters," he said casually, forgetting that she knew nothing of the attacks on the city.

Her smile faded suddenly being replaced by a look of concern. 

"Monsters? What are you talking about?"

Thol realized then that she didn't know. "Monsters have been attacking the city periodically since we arrived last week. We've managed to hold them off without incurring any serious injuries yet and the barricade that is being built is a great help."

"Where exactly are we anyway?" she asked.

"Elfland. It was the closest city I could think of that had healers of decent skill."

"Are the others here too?"

"All except Goro and Valon. We didn't have the time to go find them before we left. We just barely got you here in time as it was."

"Did I really come that close to dieing?" she asked, suddenly very frightened.

"Yes. You have no idea how worried I was," Thol replied in a somber tone.

They lapsed into silence again, each thinking similar thoughts.

"So," Melira said eventually. "What did I miss?"

They both laughed. . . .

* * * *

Somewhere far to the north, farther then any of them had ever traveled, a great beast stirred from its slumber.

"Report," bellowed the roaring voice.

"Those cursed elves have erected a barricade. My monsters cannot even get close to the city now. They wipe them out with arrows before they get close," said the voice of Kary.

"And you? How have you silly sea creatures faired?"

"They have had no success. The Light Warriors still live," replied the gurgly voice.

There was a tense moment of silence. "You pathetic imbeciles! You only have to kill one of them! How is it that they all still live?"

"They are too strong! Please, let us try again!" Kary pleaded.

"Yes! We will send our strongest monsters this time! They will not fail us, I promise!" added the gurgly voice.

The roaring voice snorted in disgust. "One last chance for both of you, then you'll both be on your own and I'll deal with them myself," it said, its psychic ether dissolving.

"What are we going to do?" Kary asked after the voice had left.

"We'll each send out our best like we promised. If they fail, it doesn't matter. I have sent my best creature to stop them. They will not get to Crescent Lake!" the gurgly voice said, breaking off contact. . . .

* * * *

Keza laughed for what seemed like the fiftieth time in the last hour. He found Tor's frustration at the incompetence of the elves quite amusing. He did have to give him credit however. He did manage to get a few of them using a sword with enough skill that they might be able to defend themselves from an imp attack.

He finally gave up his hopeless quest and joined Keza over where he was sitting.

"Having fun?" Keza asked as he approached.

"No. I'm not supposed to be having fun. I'm supposed to be teaching them close range combat. I don't like to say it, but elves just aren't built for it," Tor replied seriously.

"I could have told you that. I does make it a little easier to steal things from them I must say."

Tor gave him a disgusted look. "Don't tell me you've started that again?"

"No, no. I've kept my word thus far. I haven't taken anything I don't plan on giving back."

"Keza!" Tor admonished.

"What? I'm just borrowing it," he replied, spreading his hand in innocence.

"Alright. What was it?"

"Thol's dagger," Keza replied, taking the aforementioned object out of his belt.

"Thol carries a dagger?" Tor asked, confounded.

It was Keza's turn to give a disgusted look. "You mean you traveled with him for that long and you didn't know he carried a dagger?"

"Well I've never seen him use it."

"I can believe that. This thing is in nearly perfect condition, but I recognize the model to be fairly old. At least five years."

"You know what he's going to do to you if he finds out you took it right?"

"Don't worry. I'll have it back to him in due time."

"Well that's good, but you still should have asked him if you could use it."

Keza just shrugged.

"Speaking of Thol, we should go see where he is."

"Good idea," Keza said, concealing the dagger he had 'borrowed' from Thol.

After finding him missing from his room, they asked around to find out his whereabouts. They learned from a guard that he was in Melira's room, so they went straight there.

Tor entered first, and started speaking before he was even in the room. "Thol, we've been looking for you. I'm glad you-" he said, stopping as he finally looked up.

Keza stepped in beside him. "What's the hol-" and he too stopped.

"Melira!" they both exclaimed at once, rushing to her bedside.

"How are you feeling?" Tor asked as he fell down to his knees beside the bed.

"A little weak. Thol tells me that I've been sleeping for quite awhile."

"Yes, it has been quite awhile since you've been awake last," Keza commented, standing just behind Tor. "You had us all worried for a little while. Good thing Thol woke up when he did, else you'd be a goner."

Melira smiled and looked over at Thol. "Yes, he told me about that too," she said strangely. Thol managed to look embarrassed and looked away.

"Did he tell you what's been happening here in Elfland?" Tor asked.

"Yes, he just finished doing that before you two got here. How is everything going anyway?"

"Most excellent. The barricade has held off every attack since the east wall has been completed," Tor said proudly, as if he himself had built it.

Melira was about to comment on that when a guard burst into the room in a panic.

"Light Warriors! The barricade has been breached!  There's too many of them! We need your help!"

Tor stood up and left the room in an instant, Keza close behind him. Thol was about to get up and follow them when Melira stopped him.

"Thol!" she said, grabbing his arm. "You can go out there! You said yourself that you're not healthy enough to be fighting monsters!"

"Melira, I'm sure they could have handled the previous attacks without me, but if they managed to break through the barricade then they are definitely going to need my help. I'll be fine. I haven't been hurt very much yet," he said to her, preparing to leave again.

"Thol! Please be careful! If you get hurt I'll never forgive you!" she said.

"I won't. Trust me," he said, finally getting out of the room.

He ran to catch up with his friends and quite quickly found himself winded. _She might be right_, he thought. _Maybe I shouldn't be doing this_. When he finally did make it to the barricade, he could see why the things had managed to get through. In addition to their shear numbers, there were also a lot of creatures that he had never seen before, including a few a pair of dragons with red scales. Seeing them as the greatest threat, he immediately cast an ice spell on the two of them.

The spell connected solidly and the dragons howled. Much to Thol's discomfort, both of the large creatures suddenly turned their attention to him.

"Ah shit," he said under his breath. He started casting another ice spell as the two beasts plowed over their comrades in their charge toward him. He released the spell causing one of them to stumble and fall over, knocking over a pair of frost giants in the process. The other dragon was only slightly staggered and resumed its charge seconds later. "Damn it!" Thol yelled, taking out his staff knowing full well that it wouldn't even put a mark on the dragons hide.

            The dragon ducked its head down and opened its massive jaws as it neared him, thinking to devour the annoying mage whole. Thol was frantically looking back and forth for someway out of his impending doom and having no luck. The dragon howled in triumph as in closed in.

            At the last possible second, Thol dived in between the dragons head and left foreleg. The creature angled to the side, snapping its jaws shut and attempted to change directions in mid-charge only to end up tripping over its own feet and tail. Thol was nearly crushed in the process but wasn't going to waste any time celebrating the fact that he wasn't a stain on the dragon's scales. He got up as fast as possible and began another ice spell as he ran back into the fray of monsters. He released the spell the instant the dragon started getting up which promptly knocked it back down again, giving him more time to get lost in the crowd of monsters.

            Running in between a group of Cerberus and a group of elfish guards, he narrowly missed being boiled alive and shot with a storm of arrows, but he knew he was only seconds away from losing the dragon, which was only now just getting to its feet. Plowing his way through a second group of elves, he found himself face to face with the pair of frost giants that the other dragon had fallen over.

            "This, I can handle," he said to himself as he prepared to cast his high-level fire spell.

            Tor, on the other side of the battle, was contending with the other dragon, which had been rather seriously injured in its fall, breaking one of its wings. Being fully armored, he didn't have as much trouble as Thol in close quarters. His shield protected him from the occasional fire blast so all he really had to worry about was being caught in its great maw or being bashed by its tail.

            The thing did managed to catch him once with its tail, sending him flying right into an agama, killing it instantly, but he had managed to get his shield up in time and wasn't hurt at all, so he was back on his feet seconds, charging at the dragon again. They pounded on each other for a little longer when Tor managed to score a blow to the things underside where the scales where weaker. The thing staggered back, crying out in pain and Tor used it to his advantage, taking a swing at the dragon's neck. His swing was a mighty one that severed its head cleanly. The great beast collapsed on a group of ogres that had wandered into the town during the commotion and had carelessly got too close.

            He paused to catch his breath for a moment when Keza ran by, unarmed, with a frost giant close behind him.

            "A little help!" he yelled as he whipped by.

            Tor readied his sword and wound up. The giant, not paying any attention to him at all, continued to pursue Keza. It fell abruptly as Tor swung his sword in a great arch just as the thing ran by, severing its head just as he had done to the dragon.

            Keza ran back to the giant's corpse and pulled out his short sword, which had apparently been lodged in the beast during the battle. "Thanks!" he said to Tor, and then he whipped off back into battle, not wasting any time.

            He continued running in and out of battles, never staying in one place too long, causing damage whenever he could and avoiding the remaining dragon like the plague. He even managed to assist Thol in his battle, leaping off the back of one of the ogres that had stumbled into the battle, severing the frost giant's bicep and tearing at its knee as he went by. Thol took the opportunity to strike at its neck as its leg buckled. The snap confirmed that his blow was on target and the subsequent falling of the beast to the ground only added to that confirmation.

            Thol nodded at his handy work and thought, _Maybe that idiot thief can be useful after all_. Just then, he heard a rumbling and a growl behind him. He turned quickly and saw the dragon bearing down on him again. "Already?" he said in a pained voice.  He just had enough time to dive out of the way, the dragon missing him by only inches, but was still thrown off his feet, his staff taking an aerial tour of the battlefield. More out of reflex then thought, he grabbed a hold of one of the dragons horns and was hauled into the air as the thing stood.

            Holding on for dear life now, he was tossed around violently as the dragon tried to shake him off. Managing to swing himself on top, Thol went for his – "Where in the Hell is my knife?" he yelled. Realizing where it must have gone, he stared cursing. "You damned, good for nothing thief!" he yelled as the dragon started to shake its head again.

            Knowing that he wouldn't be able to hold on forever, he had to think of something to get himself down from his current position that didn't involve him flying through the air such as the dragon had planned for him. He was about to put a plan into action when the thing suddenly reared up on its hind legs and began pawing at its face. Thol leapt from the things neck, still holding on to one of its horns with his left hand, narrowly avoiding being clawed to death, only to find himself swinging toward its tooth infested mouth.

            The dragon clamped down and, to Thol's relief, only got a mouthful of robes. Having only seconds before the dragon would either claw at him again or get a bigger bite of him, he quickly detonated a lightning spell right in front of the things eyes, blinding it. What he hadn't expected was for it to be knocked off balance from the spell, as he suddenly found himself plummeting toward the earth as the dragon toppled backward.

            Both dragon and mage hit the ground hard, the dragon releasing its hold on most of his robes when they hit. Thol rolled a bit away from the dragon when he landed and was struggling to get up. His wounds from the Lich battle had been seriously aggravated by the fall and he knew that he wouldn't be able to keep this up for much longer.

            Luckily, the rest of the battle was coming to a close around them and a few of the elves were now concentrating on taking out the dragon. A couple of them dragged Thol out of the way and left him with the company of a hydra corpse.

            The battle was soon over after that. All that remained once the dragon was brought down was a small pack of frost wolves and a few straggling ogres. Tor walked over to where Thol was and handed him his staff, which he had apparently found at some point.

            "You alright?" he asked.

            "You try wrestling with a dragon and see how you feel after," he said sarcastically, taking back his staff.

            "Well I killed the other one by myself and I'm still in once piece," Tor said seriously.

            "Oh shut up," Thol replied.

            "Well that was a fun little battle," Keza said as he walked up to join the two of them.

            "You!" Thol yelled as he seen him. He got up suddenly as if he wasn't injured at all and moved threateningly towards the young thief.

            "What did I do?" he asked, hiding behind Tor.

            "You took my knife, you little bastard!" Thol yelled as he took a swing around Tor and just missing Keza by a hair. "Do you realize that I could have gotten out of that unscathed if I you hadn't taken it!"

            "Tor! Make him stop!" Keza pleaded as he cowered away from Thol's staff swings.

            Tor groaned inwardly and struggled to hold back Thol. . . .

* * * *

            After Thol had given up trying to kill Keza and he had in turn given the knife back to Thol, they went about assessing the damage done to the barricade and surrounding buildings and counting the number of injured and dead. Right off the start, it was obvious that the dragon corpses were going to be a problem. After that was determined and all the wounded had been removed from the area, the elves went about the grizzly work of hacking the dragons into pieces and carting them off deep into the woods so that they wouldn't cause a plague.

            The damage done to the barricade was severe. Nearly the whole of the eastern wall had been damaged in one way or another, making the rebuilding of that part a priority. All work on the other sections would have to be put on hold for the time being.

            Seeing that they could do no more, the three Light Warriors returned to the palace. Tor and Thol decided to go see Melira again, Keza wisely deciding that it would be best to avoid Thol for the next few days.

            Thol had to use his staff as a walking stick due to his abrupt meeting with the ground only moments before and he knew he was going to be feeling it pretty bad the next morning.

            After a thorough recounting of the battle and a lengthy speech about irresponsibility from Melira, which had Tor stifling a grin the whole time, the ageing mage who had restored Melira's health informed them that she needed time to rest and that they had to leave.

            Tor was still trying to suppress a grin as they left.

            "What the Hell are you grinning at, moron?" Thol asked irritably.

            "You two sound like a married couple, is all," Tor said chuckling.

            Thol's eyes narrowed. "Tor, you've got about five seconds before I make you regret that you were ever born. I suggest you be gone from my sight by then," he said gravely.

            He was. . . .

* * * *

            It had been a few days since Melira had woken up. The nice old mage suggested that she stay in bed for a couple of days yet and to get as much rest as she could. Their visiting time was cut in half due to that proclamation, but if it meant that she could be up and moving again sooner, the others were okay with it.

            Thol had finally got around to getting the elfish book he had set out to get the other day and was relaxing in his room with it. Since the day the dragons and other monsters had attacked, there had been only a few skirmishes on the eastern wall and even then, the number of monsters was limited, so they had plenty of time to relax.

            There was a knock at the door just as he had finished a page. "Enter," he said.

            It was Tor. "Good morning, Thol."

            "Tor," Thol replied. "Do you need something?"

            "Well I figured now that Melira is getting better that maybe we should start getting the ship sea worth again."

            Thol pondered that for a moment. "Yeah. I guess you could get working on that. If you need anything further, just ask," he said, returning to his book.

            "Right. I'll go find Keza and we'll get to that right away," Tor replied as he turned to leave.

            Thol had already gone back to his book and didn't hear a word he had said.

            It must have been some time later, judging by the number of pages he had gone through, that there was another knock at the door.

            "Enter," he said again.

            He was rather surprised to find that it was Melira who had knocked. He put the book down and went over to her immediately.

            "Melira! What are you doing out of bed so soon?" he asked, leading her over to the couch.

            She smiled. "I'm sure if you can go out and fight dragons when you should be resting then I can get up and walk around a bit," she replied.

            Thol managed to look a little sheepish about that. "Uh, so what brings you here?" he asked as they sat down.

            "I was getting lonely sitting in that room all by myself. Besides, do I really need a reason to come and see you?" she asked, almost shyly.

            "Well no, but. . ." Thol replied, not being able to think of what to say. They spent an awkward moment just sitting and looking at each other. "So. How are you feeling?" Thol asked eventually.

            "I'm so bored! All this sitting around is a far cry from battling undead overlords."

            "Well I should hope so, but I'll tell you what. When we get to Crescent Lake, and after I'm done with the council, I'll show you around. There's things you have to see to believe at the academy garden."

            She smiled widely at that. "Will you? Oh, Thol. You're such a sweetheart," she said, looking at him with blind adoration.

            Again, he couldn't think of anything to say. She had been saying things like that to him since she had woke up and he didn't know what to make of it. It was then he noticed how close she was to him. Without knowing why, he brought his hand, ungloved for once, to stroke her cheek.

            A jolt of pure exultation shot through her as his fingers brushed her skin and she wished with all her heart that she could see his eyes in that moment. "Thol," she said quietly in a shaky voice. "I. . ." she faltered, unable to say what she wanted to say. "I love you," she finally managed to say, so quietly she wasn't even sure she said it at all.

            He heard it nonetheless. For a moment all he could do was stare at her in shock. Finally, without saying a word, he leaned forward and kissed her. . . .

* * * *

            Somewhere, amongst a mass of darkness and chaos, something shapeless raged in anger and hatred, for all it could do was hate. But more then anything, I hated the two who have finally become united. And so it continued to hate, more then ever. . . .

* * * *

            Tor glanced at the parchment in his hands one more time as he tried in vain to figure it out. They had found it in the hold of the ship, none of them being able to identify it. Knowing Thol was really good at that kind of stuff, he was bringing it to him. The parchment bothered him though, for he felt as if he could almost make out what it was trying to say. Keza has said the same thing when he looked it over, making him wonder.

            So engrossed was he in the parchment that he neglected to knock when he reached Thol's room. "Thol, we foun-" he began as he entered. He froze as he noticed that they were locked in a passionate embrace, which they had quickly broken when he had entered.

            Melira had blushed furiously and looked down at her lap kind of shyly, a small smile of triumph on her face nonetheless. Thol on the other hand was no doubt using every ounce of will power not to blast his friend off the face of the planet.

            "Sorry. I'll come back la-" Tor began. He was cut off suddenly as Thol lost that battle against his anger and sent a bolt of lightning after him. Tor dived behind the wall at the last second, closing the door in the process. He stood and let out a deep breath, thanking the gods that he had been so lucky not to get hit. He smiled suddenly and said, "It's about time."

            He dusted himself off and returned to the ship with the parchment. . . .

* * * *

            The next day found Thol casually strolling through the city, smiling slightly for once in his life. Try as he might, he couldn't stay mad at Tor for very long. After he had 'dismissed' him from his room, he and Melira had a long talk which eventually ended with them staring at each other with nothing but physical contact for communication. She eventually had to return to her room and when the kind old mage found out that she had left her bed without permission, he demanded that she remain in bed an extra day and that she get as much rest as possibly. That meaning that she wasn't allowed to have visitors.

            His wandering eventually led him to the only section of the barricade that wasn't solidly blocked off. The city gates. There seemed to be some sort of argument occurring between the guards and some visitors, so he strolled over to see what it was about.

            As he neared, he immediately recognized the visitors. They were mages from Crescent Lake.

            "Look, elf. All we came for is a shipment of silver equipment for the academy," said the black mage who was apparently in charge of the group.

            "I'm sorry, but without the proper papers, I am not permitted to let you into the city at this time without the king's approval."

            "King? You haven't had a king in years! And what's with this ridiculous wall? Are you having a war with someone?" the mage complained.

            "Look, sir. If you can't show me the proper papers, I'll have to ask you to return to South Port," the elf guard replied.

            Thol took this opportunity to intervene. "Excuse me, honorable guard, but I'll vouch for them. Please let them enter."

            The guards turned. "Master Thollatos," the one guard said as they all bowed. "We will do as you requested, for to disobey you would be to disobey our king." The guard turned back to the mages. "By word of Master Thollatos, you may enter. And I apologize once again for denying you entrance. I am merely doing my job."

            "Yes, whatever," the mage said, eyeing Thol carefully. "Let's go," he said to the others behind him. They entered the city, the lead mage stopping before Thol. "It seems I should know you."

            "Most from Crescent Lake do. If not, I'm sure you know my father," Thol replied.

            The mage looked at him. Sudden realization crossed his face. "You? Master Runtos' son?" he asked in wonder.

            "Very good. May I ask your name?"

            "Tharka, senior mage at the academy. You're a legend back home," he commented.

            "Yes, I know," he said, a little bitterly. "Look, in return for granting you access to the city, I want you to do something for me."

            "Anything you ask, Master Thollatos," Tharka replied.

            "Don't call me that. I am still technically only a junior mage. Anyway, I want you to inform the council that we will be arriving within a month."

            "We, Mas- Uh, Thollatos?"

            "The Light Warriors to be more specific. I'm sure the dreary old council will recognize the name. Thanks so much. Run along now," he said to the overwhelmed mage.

            Tharka jolted from his trance and stumbled over a few formalities, then rushed to catch up to the others.

            Thol laughed out loud when he was gone. The guard looked at him and asked, "May I ask why you found that encounter so funny, sir?"

            "Of course, my good man. You see, back in Crescent Lake everyone is afraid of me for a variety of reasons. I've been away for many years and I find it quite amusing that they still act that way at the mention on my name. I'm sure the whole Light Warriors thing shook him a bit too," he said after he got a hold of himself.

            Thol headed back to the castle then. His encounter with the mages of his hometown got him thinking of the inevitable conflict that was going to occur once they reached Crescent Lake. The council was obviously going to reprimand him for leaving the academy without notifying them first. They were also going to want to know about their activities as the Light Warriors and a bunch of things he couldn't even begin to think of. He was definitely not looking forward to returning home. . . .

* * * *

            They stayed another three days before the old mage finally released Melira from his care. They left North Port later that afternoon, anxious to get back to Melmond. The sea voyage took about a week, as they weren't rushing as they had been on the way there. They were surprised to find the docks in the same or worse condition they had been when they left. Keza in particular was upset by the scene.

            "The ship," Tor commented as they landed. "It looks like it hasn't received any attention at all."

            Thol glanced at it as well. "Yes, it does look that way," he said gravely.

            "Can you feel anything? You know, like when the vampire came trough here," Keza asked, the worry evident in his voice.

            Thol scanned the area. "Nothing like that. Something else did this."

            They four of them walked in silence, each alert to anything out of the ordinary. As they reached sight of the town, they understood why the dock was in such a state of disrepair. Over half of the city lay in waste and it looked like the rest of it was deserted. Keza let out a cry of anguish as he set sight of it.

            Things looked even worse once they were inside. There were unburied corpses, both monster and human, littering the streets and decrepit buildings. Thol bent down to get a closer look at the monsters. They were obviously sea creatures and from the varying states of decay on the different corpses, it was evident that there was more then one attack.

            Tor bent down beside him. "Well?" he asked.

            "Looks like there have been repeated attacks coming from the sea. Sound familiar to you?" Thol replied.

            "Elfland, only the monsters came from the mountains."

            Thol nodded. "Let's see if we can find anyone," he said, getting up.

            They cautiously moved through what was left of the town, all the while looking for any signs of life. They eventually came to the town square, which used to be the most populous area. Now it lay in shambles, though most of the buildings were still standing on the eastern side.

            As they passed one of the buildings, Melira inhaled sharply. "Thol! There are people in there!" she said, pointing at the nearest building.

            Thol glanced over to scrutinize the building. "I don't see anything," he said eventually.

            "No, I can feel them," she said. "There is life in that building, a lot of it."

            Tor looked the building over. "The structure looks fairly intact. If I were to hide the surviving populous of a town, this would be one of the places that I'd do it in."

            Thol scanned the building himself, but he couldn't feel life like Melira could. He felt something else however. "Valon. He's in there. Let's go," he said, striding over to the building.

            As they approached, a voice echoed from the darkness in the main passage.

            "Halt!" said the voice. "Who goes there?"

            "The Light Warriors. Let us in," Tor called.

            There was some muffled conversation and a bit of shuffling about. Two tired looking men stepped out of the shadows and walked up to them.

            "We're glad to see you. As you can see, we've had a difficult time since you've left," the man on the right said.

            "Do you know what's causing it?" Thol asked.

            "No. They just crawled out of the sea and started attacking one day after you had gone. None of us can come up with a reason."

            "This sounds a little too much like what's happening in Elfland," Thol commented. "Tell me, how many survivors do you have in there?"

            "Only about a quarter of the population I'm afraid. They attacked so suddenly," the man on the left said sadly.

            Keza stepped forward with a worried look on his face. "Irlis?" he asked.

            "She's alright, though the old man who was helping her was killed in the first attack," the right man said.

            "I see," Keza said sadly. "Poor Jamos. He didn't deserve to die that way."

            "I don't mean to be rude, but I think we should get inside where it's safe. We've been lucky since we've started hiding in here, but there's no telling when the monsters will show up again," said the man on the left.

            "Right. We need to talk to the other two anyway," Thol replied.

            A man led them deeper into the building where he said Goro and Valon were waiting. As they passed through the rooms and halls, they saw the poor shape the survivors of the city were in. Thol looked over a Melira who had a pained expression on her face. He wordlessly took her hand in a small gesture of comfort.

            The entered a small room that was lit by weak torchlight where a haggard looking Valon sat pouring over a scroll that way laying on a rickety table. He turned at the sound of their footsteps and stood immediately.

            "I was starting to get worried," he said as they approached each other.

            "I see you've been having some problems here as well," Thol replied.

            "You too?"

            Thol nodded.

            "Perhaps we'd better bring each other up-to-date," Valon suggested.

            After Thol and Tor explained the situation in Elfland as best as they could, including their theories as to why they attacks were happening.

            "There's something wrong with all of this. I've been through the prophecy from one end to the other looking for some sigh that this was going to happen, but there's nothing. We definitely have to get to Lukahn and find out what he has seen. I'm sorry. I just can't find a reason for all of this," Valon said.

            "It's not your fault. You're not the one who had the visions after all," Thol replied. "Tell us what happened here now."

            "It started a few days after you had all left. At first, they were just minor attacks, ones that were easily dealt with, but they started getting more frequent and vicious and people started dying. Soon there was barely enough people left to continue with the repairs. The last attack was the largest yet. There were too many of them for us to hold the entire city, Goro and I tried our best, but we eventually had to fall back. It was then that we gather whom we could and held up in here. We managed to prevent them from getting in and they eventually just left. We've been here ever since waiting to see if there would be another attack."

            There was silence in the room for a moment as they all took that in.

            "Sounds like you've had a stressful time," Thol said eventually.

            "You have no idea, but then again, you just might," Valon replied.

            "Where is Goro anyway?" Melira asked.

            "He's been working hard to help the people of the city. I believe he is looking after the children right now," Valon replied. "He's near exhaustion, but he just keeps going."

            "He always has been selfless. I guess it goes with his teachings," Melira commented.

            "How are you holding up?" Keza asked of Valon, noting his weary appearance.

            "I've been up all night reading through the few scrolls I have containing Lukahn's prophecy, searching for clues to these attacks. I know I should get some rest, but I won't be able to until I find a reason."

            Thol was about to ask another question when a series of shouts rang out from the entrance. Almus, his armor showing signs that he had been in fierce battles, burst in.

            "Monsters attacking!"

            "Damn it!" Thol yelled. He glanced over at Melira. "Stay here. You're in no condition for battle yet."

            "Neither are you," she commented.

            "Maybe, but I've had more recovery time then you, don't worry about me."

            "Alright, but be careful," she said. She gave him a hurried kiss before he joined the others.

            Valon was looking at him with a raised eyebrow. Thol noticed and said in a deadly tone, "You have something to say, red mage?"

            "No, nothing," Valon replied, speeding up to catch up with Tor who was just running through the doors now. Thol was right behind him.

            Neither mage bothered to see what sort of monsters they were facing as they both unleashed powerful fire spells as soon as they were clear of the fortifications. It turned out that they were being attacked by sea creatures, though none of them had ever seen the likes of these.

            Tor rushed directly into the battle as he always did, coming to the aid of Almus who was struggling with a group of naga-like creatures. He beheaded one and faced off against two more of the things, taking a stab at one. He was forced to jump to the side as the second one lunged for him as he was struggling to free his sword from the first one. Almus slashed at its flank as to distract it and found himself under the attention of three of the beasts now. The distraction had proved useful, however, as Tor sliced the third one in half and immediately attacked one of the others.

            Keza was aiding the weary Valon over on the opposite side of the field with a swarm of different colored sahags, some of which were casting strange spells. Being the fresher of the two, Keza was actually doing the most damage at the moment. Valon had to rely on his weapon only as he had already exhausted his magic energy with his initial fire spell. They fought side by side trying to finish off the spell wielding sahags first, but the red toned ones were almost always in the way and had to be dealt with first. Finally, one, then the other magic casting creatures went down, sending the lesser sahags fleeing for the sea.

            Thol was on his own about midway between the two other groups blasting away at overgrown lobsters, giant sea spiders and the occasional sea troll. He was forced to use his staff when a group of sahags attacked him just as he flooded a group of lobsters with fire. Lucky for him, there were only the normal kind of sahags in the group and not the spell wielding kind. He quickly dispersed them with a lightning spell and refocused his attention to the horde of monsters being lead by the sea trolls.

            Tor and Almus had finally finished off all the nagas and turned to help Thol in his battle. Valon and Keza joined them moments later. The monsters soon fell to the onslaught and the Light Warriors had a moment to regroup.

            "Where did they come from?" Tor asked, knowing that there was nothing like them in normal waters.

            Thol shook his head and leaned heavily on his staff, trying to catch his breath after casting so many spells in a row. "I've never seen or heard of things like these before," he said after awhile.

            Almus suddenly snapped into battle stance again. "More coming!" he yelled as he noticed a second group of monsters coming for the building.

            Thol started swearing profusely as they moved to head off the attack. The group seemed to be comprised of the same types of monsters as before, but with the addition of strange looking masses with a pair of large, unblinking eyes on top of them similar to the things that had attacked them on the way to Elfland, only larger and meaner.

            The five of them fought fiercely, but in the end they were over whelmed and pushed back into the building. The monsters began breaking into the building in various places. Screams could be heard coming from deeper inside and they just hoped that no one would be seriously hurt. . . .

* * * *

            He knew that the building was under attack, but he was the only one around to watch the children. When he heard the impact against the wall and the board cracking, Goro was into battle stance in an instant. The wall imploded to reveal a sea troll and a trio of red sahags.

            Goro rushed forward and delivered a spirited kick to the troll that sent it flying back trough the hole it just created in the wall. The sahags were on him as soon as he landed but he managed to beat two of them back, the third only delivering a glancing blow. He was able to finish off two of the three sahags before the troll recovered its wits and attacked again. Goro used the things own momentum and sent it reeling into the last sahag, causing both creatures to be knocked to the floor. He didn't give them a chance to regain their footing as he leapt as the two, pinning the sahag to the floor with the knee of one leg and thrust kicking the other. The troll flew across the room where the children screamed and fled from its path. He finished off the sahag with a simple twist of his knee.

            With the sahags out of the way, he could now focus solely on the troll. He was almost a blur as he stepped up to the now standing troll and unleashed a striking combination. The troll could do little to defend itself and ended up sinking to one knee when Goro placed a kick to its leg. It proved to be fatal, though unavoidable, mistake. Goro brought the same leg he struck the trolls knee with up and executed a crushing crescent kick to the trolls throat, snapping its neck. The troll fell to the ground and twitched a few times before remaining still.

            He took a deep breath and stared at the fallen troll, wondering how the others were fairing. . . .

* * * *

            The others had ended up separating in order to protect the citizens of Melmond. Keza had just arrived in time to save a group from an attacking lobster horde. He was currently trying to calm Irlis, who was in the room during the attack.

            Tor and Almus stayed at the main entrance where the main stream of monsters was still coming from. They were able to keep the monsters back so far without sustaining any serious injuries, but they were both tiring rapidly.

            "They're starting to thin out!" Almus yelled over the noise of the battle.

            "Good!" Tor replied. "Hopefully the other monsters are too!"

            Thol had gone to check on Melira and ended up being ambushed by a large pack of sea spiders. They were soon joined by a group of lobsters and a pair of eyes and he was hard pressed to keep them all back. Cursing mentally, he was forced to use a second high level fire spell to clear the room. Finishing off the one spider that lived through the blast with his staff, he sealed off the hole in the wall with a well placed ice spell and continued to look for Melira, cursing the monsters every step of the way.

            Valon ran into Goro just as another troll wormed its way into the room. The red mage leaped into battle with all the strength he had left and between the two of them, they finished off the monster quickly.

            "How fairs the rest of the building?" Goro asked.

            "The others are taking care of it. Tor and Almus are holding off the most of them."

            "The others are back? When did they get here?"

            "Just before the attack. Melira is okay now."

            "Good. I was worried for awhile."

            "The monsters seem to be thinning out. I'll stay here and help."

            "Right." Goro replied. . . .

* * * *

            Ten minutes later, the monsters had been defeated. The remaining townspeople had gathered in the common room and were having a rather heated argument. The Light Warriors had just entered when a woman who appeared to be in her late twenties stood up and started yelling at a middle aged man who looked like he was their leader.

            "I don't care who they are!" the woman yelled. "They have to go!"

            "Yes! The monsters were attracted by them. We were fine until they showed up!" another man yelled.

            "Please listen to reason. If it wasn't for them, many more of us would be dead!" the middle aged man implored.

            "Yes. I am unable to hold them all off myself," Almus added.

            "You wouldn't need to hold anything off if they left. They're the ones who brought this upon us!" the woman yelled again.

            Keza walked up to Irlis who was standing on the edge of the crowd with a sad look on her face. "What's this about?" he asked.

            "They want you and the others to leave. They think that you've brought the monsters with you," she said sadly.

            "That's ridiculous!" Keza exclaimed.

            Thol frowned. "No. They're probably right."

            He was rewarded with a questioning stare from his companions.

            Thol sighed. "I'm sure there are other creatures out there just like the Lich who have control of lesser creatures. They must be able to tell where we are. They're afraid that we'll destroy them as we have Lich, so they're trying to finish us before we have a chance."

            His speech had caught the attention of the crowd, their faces showed anger and betrayal; each convinced that the Light Warriors had brought the monsters on purpose.

            "You see! That proves it!" the woman yelled. "They brought those monsters here and they knew what was going to happen!"

            "That's absurd!" the leader yelled. "If they had known, they would never have even come here!"

            "But the masked one just said. . ." the other man began.

            "If it makes any difference, I was just guessing," Thol replied, icily.

            "Right. You're just saying that so we'll let you stay and bring more monsters to wipe us all out!" said the woman.

            "Now hold on! None of us would ever. . ." Tor said, stepping forward. He was clearly beginning to get irritated with the woman.

            "Forget it! Just get out of here!" the man said.

            "Do you even know who they are?" the leader asked, his tone frustrated.

            "It doesn't matter. Think of the safety of the children!" the woman said.

            "Yeah! Get out of . . ." the man began.

            "Enough!" Thol yelled, startling even his traveling companions with the volume.  His tone left no room for arguement. "We'll leave," he said. Wasting no time, he immediately turned and left the room.

            Keza looked at Irlis. She just mouthed the words 'I'm sorry' and bowed her head in sadness. Keza nodded and followed the others out, saying nothing to his fellow townspeople.

            Outside the city, the others waited for Keza to catch up. When he arrived, he commented, "Well, that went wonderfully."

            "That's quite a voice you have, Thol. I didn't know you could be so authoritive," Tor said.

            Thol snorted as if disgusted. "I learned it from my father. He tried to use it on me many times, without much luck I might add."

            "So where are we to go now?" Valon asked of Thol.

            "As much as I dislike the idea, we'll go to Crescent Lake. There are some things we have to ask the council. We should also consider speaking with Lukahn. I'm sure the effort will do us nothing but good," he replied.

            "Alright. Hopefully the monsters didn't damage the ship when they attacked," Tor said. "At any rate, let's be off."

            They were walking for only a minute when a shout from behind stopped them.

            "Wait!"

            They turned to see who it was.

            "Irlis! What are you doing?" Keza demanded of his friend.

            "I'm going with you. There's nothing here for me now," she said.

            "You can't come! It'll be dangerous!" Keza replied.

            "I don't care. I'm not going back there again!" she said fiercely.

            "Irlis!" Keza exclaimed in frustration.

            Tor chuckled slightly. "Forget it, Keza. You'll never win this argument. I'm sure she'll be just fine with you to look after her."

            Keza sighed in defeat. "Alright. You can come," he said, rather dejectedly.

            "Thank you," she said pleasantly.

            Keza looked at his companions. "Thanks for helping out guys," he said sarcastically. "What did I do to deserve being ganged up on?" he asked, mostly to himself.

            "It's probably your face. You look like someone you wouldn't want to trust," Thol said mockingly. "You know, like a thief or something."

            "Thol!" Melira admonished, grinning in spite of her words.

            Keza turned to Tor. "You see?" he said, then sighed theatrically. "No one understands me."

            "No one wants t- Ohff!" Thol began to say before receiving an elbow to the ribs from Melira.

            The others could only laugh at the two as they knew that as much as Thol claimed to dislike the thief, they were actually good friends as it was made obvious by their spiteful bickering.

            They arrived at the port to find only superficial damage to the boat. After a few quick repairs, they set off to Crescent Lake. . . .

* * * *


End file.
